


Carry On Blissey

by ChloboShoka



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, medical drama
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-19
Updated: 2014-05-28
Packaged: 2018-01-13 02:04:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 25
Words: 36,032
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1208740
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChloboShoka/pseuds/ChloboShoka
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Matron Blissey has been working for Hearthome City General Hospital & Pokémon Center for fifteen years. She has only one goal in life: to save as many lives as possible. Voted most overall original story and best non-romantic relationship by Serebii Forums in 2012.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Drunk Chikorita

**A Drunk Chikorita**  
  
  
If you are one of those lucky trainers we can heal your whole team free of charge under a minute. We probably deal with thousands of patients a day and many of them are satisfied with their care. On the other hand, there is only so much that technology can do. The healing machine has made care easier for us. Unfortunately, despite popular belief it does not heal every disease.   
  
That's when I, the matron and the nurses help out. I examine the patient’s condition, diagnose them, then refer them to the specialist they need. It's never an easy task and the rules are always changing to ensure that everybody gets the right health care.   
  
No day is ever the same. One of my favourite things about this hospital is that it wasn't just pokémon from the chansey line. It had many nurses frown. Some in horror and some amused. They got the idea from Unova where they had audinos and also some fighting pokémon in the physiotherapy ward. The chansey line were very rare in Unova, but audino do a good job. Of course, I'm proud of being part of the chansey line, but I feel like the hospital promotes equality and diversity much better than other places I've worked in before. Could still do with some improvements here and there, but it's good.   
  
I can mend fainted pokémon in a heartbeat. The healing machine works wonders for burns, paralysis, frost bites and most poisons. However, sobering them up is a different story. One of my patients today included a baby chikorita. Purple patches on his skin indicate signs of poisoning. The leaf on the top of his head flaps uncontrollably. There is also an obvious scent of vodka on the chikorita's breath. I hate these sort of cases. They make me want to double slap their trainers where the sun don't shine. Pure grass type pokemon should not be consuming alcohol of any kind especially with their poison disadvantage.   
  
All grass types should refrain from having refined sugars. A swipe on the machine helped this chikorita recover some energy, but the poison was too severe for the machine to get rid of it. Alcoholic poisoning can be fatal. I hope the Nurse Joy has words with the trainer. If this chikorita doesn't make it, she could be arrested to neglect as well as being banned from pokémon leagues.  
  
"Okay Chikorita," I told him. "As you are still quite young, the full restores may be too strong for your immune system." The chikorita looked at me as in to suggest he had no idea what I was talking about. It is to be expected, but I can't help but use these medical terms. I've been working in this clinic for as long as I can remember. "We will try a combination of aromatherapy and heal bells. These are natural ways to cure common status problems which will leave as little side effects as possible."  
  
"What's a side-effect?" Chikorita asked. He coughed in his words and squinted his eyes.   
  
"Side effects are effects that are not intended," I told him. "Once you leave hospital, I recommend that the next time your trainer gives you alcohol is to say no."  
  
"Matron Blissey," an audino said passing by. Pure was engraved on her name tag. "This chikorita is only a baby, he might forget it."  
  
"Pure, if we tell him when he's young it will stick with him for life."   
  
"I am really worried about Chikorita." Pure dragged me into the corner of the room as she tried to whisper it quietly in my ear. "He could be a victim of abuse. The tests confirmed there were five units of alcohol."   
  
"I shall forward your concerns to Nurse Joy," I announced. "I will also request the medical history of the trainer's other pokémon. Before Pure walked off, I stopped her by asking, "do you know how to use a heal bell for aromatherapy?"  
  
"Yes, I do."  
  
"Brilliant," I said. "If you stay here, I'll get someone who can do the aromatherapy." I marched towards a group of chanseys who were looking for something to do. The shiny one in the middle, Lucky was her name, she knew how to perform aromatherapy. She was of the best aromatherapy nurses in the clinic. "Lucky, go in room 24. There's a chikorita with alcoholic poisoning. There's an audino waiting there with the heal bells."  
  
"Right!" Lucky nodded and scurried over to the chikorita. If everything runs smoothly, the chikorita will be discharged tomorrow morning. Time was a matter of life and death.  
  
I was slapped on the back by a pink tail. Curiously I turned around and saw some beedrill zoom a mew into the hospital wing. I opened my mouth in awe. I hadn't seen this pokemon in many years. No doubt that everyone would work extra hard to give this one a speedy recovery as they are an endangered species. After all, we've all made our vows to preserve life, but we should apply that vow to all our patients.   
  
"Nurse Joy! A word please?" I called. Nurse Joy had just walked out of a patient's room with a smile on her face. Someone had just been discharged from the hospital.   
  
"Of course." I followed Nurse Joy into her office. "It seems something is troubling you?" Nurse Joy can read my mind like a nursery book.   
  
"Pure believes the chikorita in room 24 might have been abused. Have you spoken to the trainer about this?"  
  
"I have spoken to Alita about this."   
  
So the trainer's name is Alita. Doesn't ring a bell to me, so she was either a rookie or someone not local from here. "What did you say to her?" I asked.   
  
"I praised her for trying to feed her pokémon, but told her not to use alcohol again."  
  
"Is that all?" I asked. Why should this pathetic trainer be praised for feeding alcohol? I sometimes feel that Nurse Joys are far too lenient on these brats.   
  
"Alita has Asperger's Syndrome," Nurse Joy said to me. "Now that's not the real reason why she did this, but because she's mentally retarded as well, she can easily be tricked. I'm sure that she wants to be a good pokémon trainer. She loves chikorita, but she doesn't understand what's going on."  
  
I opened my mouth with sheer horror. "You can't use that word in a professional environment like this. You shouldn't be using it all." Every time I hear that word, my stomach curled as I cringed. Retard was a horrible word. "And she dosen't have aspergers, it's not possible."  
  
"What are you talking about?" Nurse Joy asked.   
  
"A friend of mine told me that people with Aspergers are average or highly intelligent, which means she can't have Aspergers. Alita probably had classic autism."  
  
"I'd like to know why they were both near alcohol in the first place?" Nurse Joy asked. "Sadly autistic trainers fail to reach their potential."   
  
"That's a lot of nonsense and you know it!" I shouted. "You treat Autism like it's a deadly disease. It's not. This is discriminatory behavior!" It really wasn't fair that autistic trainers not treated right at hospitals. I don't know what's gotten into Nurse Joy. I do think that this should be investigated further. Whoever gave Alita the alcohol to feed Chikorita should be punished. She's only ten years old and she wouldn't be fully aware of the consequences of alcohol. I take back the inappropriate thoughts in my head. I'm quite passionate about my job, but it can lead me to being easily frustrated by humans. Still, Audino did the right thing by sharing her concerns to me. I hope for all the best for Alita and her chikorita.   
  
"You know what happened to Cyrus," Nurse Joy reminded me.   
  
"Just because one criminal mastermind had autism, it doesn't make every person with autism a criminal. I'm sorry, but some of your generalizations are just ridiculous and unprofessional. I know trainers with the condition that are excellent trainers. One of them is even a gym leader around this region." I snarled. If I wasn't on duty, I could have easily pounded her. Many people expect Nurse Joy to be friendly and polite, but this one had a very unpleasant side. Her implied hatred of people with disabilities made my blood boil with anger. It makes me wonder what made her chose to be a nurse in the first place?  
  
Nurse Joy asked me to leave as she dived into paperwork.


	2. Mr. Fierce The Broken Swellow

"Good morning Mr. Fierce."   
  
I greeted a swellow with two broken wings, whose feet had also been bitten off. It is a very unfortunate case for Mr. Fierce. I don't think he will be able to fly again. His trainer has come to the centre next door nearly every day. His trainer mentioned that he and Mr. Fierce were students at Smogon University. They obtained a degree in competitive battles and became runners up in some leagues. His trainer had a spark in his eye when he talked about his battles with Mr. Fierce.   
  
He will need to be told that he is now disabled. The machine couldn't cure his injuries, but it helped him regain his conscious. The swellow refused to speak. He frowned upon the nurse behind me. She was a gardevoir without a nickname. Gardevoir was a new member of staff. Gardevoirs were considered to be intelligent because of their typing, and beloved for their elegant appearance. If you ask me, I would say it's the humanoid curves that get them on their knees. It makes you wonder how accurate pokédex entries are because they make me sound like a saint. If you knew which company I used to work for, then you would be surprised.   
  
"When are my Action Replay Pills coming?" Mr. Fierce growled.   
  
"We can't give you any Action Replay Pills," Gardevoir answered. I can see she's in a difficult situation. Mr. Fierce was polite around his trainer, but unpleasant when his trainer is not around. "They're illegal."  
  
"No they're not!" Mr Fierce barked. He pecked Gardevoir on the arm and crowed. "I had them all the time in Fuchsia City. They made me better in no time. By the way, this room is so boring. Where are all the iPads?"  
  
"Mr. Fierce," I interrupted. I've never heard of multiple iPads being in a patient's room. What kind of hospital did he go into? "I understand that you found Action Replay medicine useful, but they are illegal in the Sinnoh Region. Therefore we cannot give you any."  
  
"Give me a real nurse!" Mr. Fierce demanded. He moved his body up and cried when he tried to move his wings. "I don't want that green tart, I want a chansey that understands me."  
  
"A chansey will assist you later on," I assured him. "For now Gardevoir will give you an injection."  
  
"It won't get my feet back!"   
  
I really wanted to tell him that Action Replay Pills won't cure his disability either, if anything it may have contributed to his injury. While these pills can make pokemon feel stronger and do things they usually can't do, they're illegal in Sinnoh for a reason. They're addictive, they can weaken the bones and cause permanent brain damage.   
  
"I know," Gardevoir said. "But we'll do all we can to make sure your life is back to normal."  
  
"I suppose it's better than nothing." Mr. Pierce sulked and closed his eyes.   
  
I know her intentions were good, but it will give Mr. Fierce hopes up too high. The bones in his wings have shattered and he will need artificial claws. If he had the money he could get artificial wings as well. His life is not going to go back to normal. It's going to change forever and his previous lifestyle will no longer be practical.   
  
"Mr. Fierce," I said. "There is no easy way of telling you this, but there is a big chance that you may never compete in battles again."  
  
"I beg your pardon?" Mr Fierce shrieked. His eyes and mouth opened from the shock of my words. Horrified he froze on the spot.   
  
"Your injuries are very severe and may take years for you to recover if you recover at all."  
  
"What will my trainer think of me?" Mr. Fierce sobbed. "I've let him down."  
  
"The injury is not your fault," Gardevoir told him.   
  
"Mr. Fierce's colostomy bag will need emptying soon," I reminded Gardevoir. That was another problem with using Action Replay Pills, the pokemon start to become incontinent and disobedient in later life. What looking at Mr. Fierce it seems he's been taking Action Replay for years. Some trainers think that they are amazing injecting so much junk in their pokémon. In my opinion they're all idiots, but if it wasn't for some of those idiots I probably wouldn't have a job.  
  
I don't believe the trainer when he said he and Mr. Fierce obtained that degree at Smogon University together. Smogon had high standards and expelled students for using any kind of drugs I should know: I was a student there. I studied medicine with my original trainer. It's a long story, but I haven't seen her since graduating and I ended up working in a lot of health centres until I settled down to this one fifteen years ago.   
  
I know that Action Replay Pills are legal in Kanto, but what Mr. Fierce has told me does not seem right. Gardevoir had her concerns too. It's cases like Mr. Fierce that remind me how much I detest action replay. I have worked in Kanto clinics before and only one has ever prescribed Action Replay Pills, which was an underground clinic funded by the black market. When the boss of the company that owned the clinic was famously defeated by one of the Indigo Plateau champions, the clinic shut down.


	3. Hacked Syndrome

I hated it when Spiritomb came into the room. It's not that he's an unpleasant pokémon to work with because sometimes what he says is rich in knowledge, but whenever I see him. He will talk about how long the patient has left. He was always right. I rarely get to see him as he works different shifts to me, but the rest of my colleagues have had the same experience. At least he didn't work in the baby and egg ward otherwise they'd all be scared for life by his jiggered green grin.

Hyperacidosis Cancerous Kinetic Excessive Deformity or simply known as the Hacked Syndrome, was a disorder that has been on the rise since the boom of drugs for pokémon. Spiritomb started at this clinic about the same time as I did and became the hospital's expert at this disease. His parents both had The Hacked Syndrome and are no longer with us.

And of course he was the only pokémon nurse, aside from myself who could speak to humans in their own language. The other pokémon either have to sign or use their body language. Pokémon could communicate to other pokémon fine without any language barriers, but especially in this profession communication was not always a strong point for everybody.

All the pokémon who worked in our community hospital had been trained to understand human emotion. It was more than just medicine. We were saving lives. It wasn't common that we had to treat humans, but we still needed to give first aid sessions when dealing with both pokémon and humans. It wasn't a known fact that we shared a close bond with humans and most of our patients had pokémon trainers with them.

Spiritomb and I walked into the room with Alita and Chikorita in. Alita curled her arms around Chikorita as they both had their eyes shut tight. Spirtomb floated above the pair and studied the monitors beeping steadily.

"This Chikorita is going to be just fine," Spiritomb announced.

"That's wonderful news," I said. "I was hoping that they would both leave the hospital by tomorrow. Although Nurse Joy says they need to be supervised at all times."

"It's not easy, is it?" Spiritomb croaked. "Children are very fast and have no sense of danger. Being autistic won't make things easier. That's why I think ten years is far too young to have a trainer's license."

"Yet the Pokémon Welfare Agency believes that ten is a suitable age to become a pokémon trainer," I sighed. "But I do agree with you, ten is quite young. And to think that that some trainers have their first egg three months after they start their journey."

"Those Day Care Centres must make a fortune," Spiritomb said. "But I don't like how most of them hand pokémon eggs like cotton candy. They might not know what the trainer is like?"

"I can see your point," I told him. "They remind me of Nurse Joy in some ways. Kind, but sometimes too kind. For me the best day care centres I've been to were in Solaceon Town, Agate Village, and Eggseter." The Nurse Joy I had the displeasure of working with did not apply - she can be very unkind towards patients.

"Agate Village don't accept pokémon with Hacked Syndrome," Spiritomb responded. "I was at placement there when I was at Pokécommunity University. That was when I learned a lot about Hacked Syndrome. After the incident with shadow pokémon, they decided that they would no longer accept pokémon with Hacked Syndrome because they didn't want to encourage ill health."

"I see..." I nodded my head and took a brief look at my paper-board. I raised my hand and said, "There was a patient I wanted you to see."

"Who is this patient?"

"It's Mr. Fierce, he's a swellow facing life confined to a wheelchair," I replied. Since we've spoken about how the disorder is mainly caused by drugs, I thought the patient would have interested Spiritomb. Not only that but his expertise would have been most useful. "He's become addicted to Action Replay pills."

Spiritomb sniffed and boomed, "sounds like my kind of case!" There was distinct chime in his accent. With that, I led him into Mr. Fierce's bedroom. The bird leered into the ghost's eyes and screeched.

"What is this?" Mr. Fierce yelled. "Are we in the circus?"

"Mr. Fierce," I said as I stood in front of Spiritomb and held onto the side of Mr. Fierce's bed. "I'd like you to meet our nurse, Spiritomb. He is an expert in drug related cases and will be here to assist my diagnosis."

"What a lot of rubbish!" Mr. Fierce barked. "He's a nurse? He looks like a clown." Spiritomb was trying hard not to chuckle as I sighed. "Surely he's got some Action Replay pills?"

"As I've told you before Mr. Fierce, we cannot give you any."

"If I may?" Spiritomb asked. "I would like to have a check up on you for some diagnosis?"

"Suit yourself," Mr. Fierce muttered.

"Mr. Fierce, how long have you been taking Action Replay?" I asked. As Spiritomb investigated the swellow I walked to his left and spoke to the patient. I could at least try and make him feel at ease. Besides, the more we know about Mr. Fierce, the more we can do to treat him.

"Ever since I was a little Taillow." He looked into my eyes and crowed. "I've always had it since he caught me. He treated me like his best friend and spoilt me rotten. Although, I haven't seen him today. Not since he was told that I may be unable to battle again. Apparently when Nurse Joy asked him about the Action Replay pills, he did a runner."

Flipping coward, I thought to myself. Not only was this abuse, but also neglect. As I predicted, Mr. Fierce had been taking this for many years.

"Did you enjoy these battles?" Spiritomb asked.

"I did," he replied. "I got an enormous buzz from battles because I get to meet all sorts of creatures. Nurse Gardevoir says you guys will do whatever I can to get my life back to normal again." Mr. Fierce looked up to the sky and said, "... I can't wait to get out of here."

"You and your trainer must have travelled a lot. What was your favourite place?"

"I would love to back to Hoenn again," Mr. Fierce answered. "It's a wonderful place. Full of interesting environments and lovely people."

"That's the diagnosis finished," Spiritomb announced.

"That was quick!" Mr Fierce gasped. "Can I go home now?"

"I'm afraid it's just as Matron Blissey feared," Spiritomb announced. "Mr. Fierce, you have indeed have The Hacked Syndrome. Because of your condition, the drugs your trainer has given you for over the years has gradually weakened your immune system and as a result your injuries are severe to the point of permanent disability."

"So I won't be able to battle..."

"I'm afraid not."

"That's why my trainer abandoned me."

It was almost as if my heart was aching for him. That trainer, I could pound him one if I could. I patted on his wounded wing and said, "Your trainer may have left you, but we won't until we feel we are in a position to let you go."

"So what happens now?" Mr Fierce asked. "What about my trainer?"

"It will be up to Nurse Joy and Matron Blissey. We will try and contact Pokémon Professors and follow their advice."

"Were there bad eggs forming inside?" I asked.

"Yes," Spiritomb confirmed. "Lots of them. It will require lots of operations to ensure they don't hatch."

"I have eggs in me?" Mr. Fierce gasped again. His eyes dropped two tears as his head shuddered.

"They're tumours known as bad eggs," I replied. I gulped and sighed. "We need to carefully get these tumours out before they hatch. If the bad egg hatch, your whole body will freeze and you may die within ten minutes."

"Why is that?" Mr. Fierce asked.

"Bad eggs contain highly cancerous cells that will quickly spread," Spiritomb said.

"It must be easy for you," Mr. Fierce sobbed.

Poor thing... It's easy to assume that these things get easier as time goes by, but it dosen't. Telling someone that they're going to die is never going to be easy. Mr. Fierce was truly a strong pokémon who didn't need those drugs. It was just a shame he was with a poor trainer.

I wish we could operate on him now, but we're not allowed to operate on pokémon without permission from the trainer. I've got to seek advice from Nurse Joy and the Social Services... fast! I'm not going to let this pokémon die because of neglect and abuse.


	4. Important Call

"Matron!" an audino called. "The patient in room 31 wishes to see you."  
  
"Not now," I replied. "I've got to do something. I will see the patient after I've sorted this out."  
  
An hour I spent frantically looking around for Nurse Joy, and she was training staff on how to tackle with violent patients and trainers. On top of that, she was going to to judge on a contest after the session. It looks like I won't be seeing her until the evening. What an hour wasted. I could have spent that dealing with patients and staff who could have really used some help.   
I actually could have seen the patient in room 31, but all I could think about was Mr. Fierce. Time was running out for him. Sprititomb's scans confirmed that the bad eggs in his body had fully grown and could hatch any time between 1:00 PM and midnight.   
  
The clock was on six.   
  
If I couldn't contact Nurse Joy now, I'd have to seek advice elsewhere. Desperate times for desperate measures. I wasn't sure whether to call the social services or Professor Rowan. Then I remembered, Social Services phone lines close at 5PM.   
  
Which was just silly. When I worked at Kanto, the social services phone line was always open. I guess that's just Professor Rowan. I marched into the nursing office and reached out for the telephone. I dialled up Professor Rowan and within half a minute an image of him appeared on the screen.   
  
"Good evening," Professor Rowan said. "How many I help you, Blissey."  
  
"Hello Professor Rowan, it's Matron from Hearthome City Hospital."  
  
"Hello Matron," Professor Rowan seemed to be relaxed. "What can I do for you?"  
  
"I've come to seek your advice," I told him.   
  
"Matron slow down," requested Professor Rowan. "You're talking far too fast; I can't understand you."  
  
"Sorry," I responded. "We have a swellow has hacked syndrome. He's admitted to being addicted to them for a number of years and his trainer gave them him on a regular basis. The bad eggs in his body are fully developed and can hatch any time this evening. We need the trainer's permission to perform any operations needed."  
  
"Do you believe that this swellow is a victim of substance abuse?" Professor Rowan asked. His facial expressions dropped to a sullen frown.   
  
"Yes we do?" I replied. "When we enquired with the trainer, he ran away."  
  
"Then you have every right to operate," Professor Rowan confirmed. "By the looks of it, it seems that this poor swellow has been released." Professor Rowan held up a heavy book to me and quickly flicked through the pages. "If you take a look at Section 112, chapter seven on Compulsory Policies By The Pokémon Welfare Agency 2012 it clearly states: If nurses have evidence to believe that a patient has a history of substance abuse, then a patient may be operated on without trainer's consent."   
  
I sighed in relief.   
  
"You seem happy, Matron."  
  
"I am," I told the professor. "Very happy. I'll make sure this swellow gets treatment straight away. Thank you for your help, Professor."  
  
"My pleasure," Professor Rowan said with a smile. "Best of luck."  
  
With that, we both hung up on the phone. It was time to get Mr. Fierce into the operating theatre as soon as possible. I jogged into his room and moved him out of the room.   
  
"Plum!" I called one of the vileplumes who had just left a patient's room. "Need you in theatre!" Plum helped move the bed without another word. "Be careful," I told him. "This patient has bad eggs which can hatch any moment."  
  
"Scarmony and Weeper should be in the theatre room," Plum told me.   
  
"Right," I said. I looked down on Mr. Fierce, and hoped that he will be able to make it. "Plum give Mr. Fierce some sleep powder."   
  
Plum's flower head unleashed orange powder that circulated around Mr. Fierce's face. Just as he was about to open his eyes, his eyelids dropped.   
  
Time to get him into theatre.


	5. Intensive Operation

I had been concentrating very hard on Mr. Fierce's operation. Scarmony had set up the purification chamber that was fully recharged. I wish we used this machine over at the front in the pokémon centre, but the purification chamber was expensive. We were only allowed to use it on pokémon who had just had operations, where they'd be expected to be completely healed afterwards. Mr. Fierce's condition could get treated, but the disabilities would last for the rest of his life.   
  
There will be help for him. Once a social worker speaks to Nurse Joy, Mr. Fierce may be moved to care home or put up for people to adopt on the GTS. They're all flawed systems, people don't want to adopt pokémon with the Hacked Syndrome and end up releasing them into the wild in a vulnerable state. It has a 5% chance of being inherited by pokémon who have the disorder.   
  
In the theatre was myself, Spiritomb, Plum, Weeper and Scarmony. Scarmony had the hardest job out of all of us, especially with the barriers around his beak. They had to be there though. Skarmory was the steel bird of the pokémon world. Scarmony's peak was sharp, but the cap around his beak was there to prevent infection. Although being a steel type pokémon made him immune to poison, the pokémon he could be working with might not have the same privilege.   
  
Any staff that go into theatre have to have a through showering after every operation. By the looks of all the bad eggs that Scarmony, Weeper and I were pulling out it was going to be a long wash for us all. Even a spiritomb or sableye with wonder gaurd would be required to have a shower. Pokémon reluctant against water would be hand washed, that policy started coming in when a charmander became a clinical support worker for the hospital.   
  
Despite many bad eggs being removed, Mr. Fierce's kidney was cluttered with bad eggs. They had tried to form a honeycomb pattern. We managed to find the biggest bad egg that was fully developed had pierced a hole in his bladder.   
  
Weeper trembled as he cut the underneath layers of bleeding fungus below the surface of the eggs with a razor leaf. Scarmony used his wing and beak to tear off all the bad eggs at once. He succeeded at all but the huge bad egg that rumbled and made churning sounds. It was the acid and cancerous cells reaching boiling point.  
  
Plum rolled over the yellow bin and Scarmony disposed of the eggs. I was surprised that Spiritomb didn't really do anything other than observe the machines. Whenever I turned to look at him he never had his eyes on the tumours. I blew a pale ice beam onto the bleeding and areas with fungi in them. It would make Scarmony's job of removing the infected areas easier as the bad eggs can grow back if the fungus had not been removed. Without a word, Scarmony dragged the frozen fungi out of Mr. Fierce's body and into the clinical waste bin.  
  
I'm not sure if the silence is a good thing or a bad thing. We seem to be silent, yet we're communicating at the same time. We're all fully focused on healing Mr. Fierce, but I've never experienced such silence in the theatre. It was just so awkward. I turned to face Spiritomb again and this time he gave me eye contact and a grin on his face.   
  
"Good technique," Spiritomb told me. "I'd have never thought of freezing bad eggs out."  
  
"Desperate times call for desperate measures," I said.   
  
"There's only one left now," Weeper announced. "Do you think Mr. Fierce will survive?"  
  
"The chances of survival are increasing with every tumour removed," Spiritomb announced.   
  
Then it struck me. Spiritomb was the reason why everyone was so silent. His utter presence was enough to put them under pressure and try to hide the fact that they're not intimidated by his accurate predictions.   
  
The last bad egg began to shake violently. Plum bent her knees and with panic in her voice screamed, "the tumours going to hatch! Should I give it sun spore, toxic or sleeping powder?"  
  
"Neither," I replied. Sleeping powder would have been useless as Mr. Fierce is already asleep. Toxic would kill the egg, but the toxic would make the lingering parts of Hacked Syndrome worse. Stun Spore would go into the blood stream and stop the heart.   
  
Burning was also an option, but none of us apart from Spiritomb were able to do it. Besides, the last time someone tried to burn a bad egg that patient died. It was far too risky.   
  
If we cut the bad egg, it would make the process of hatching even quicker and the cancerous cells, infected blood and toxins chemicals would leak all over the body and the organs would erode.   
  
Which left only one option: freeze it! Bad eggs loved areas with heat and acid and what better place to grow then in the body. Their worst enemy: ice. It kills the cells that are already inside and it freezes the entire tumour solid, which makes it much easier to remove and it won't hatch.   
  
"Stand behind me everyone," I demanded. My eyes were fixed onto the fungus attached to the bad egg. I blew out ice beam and started at the bottom. Once the fungus was covered by a blanket of ice, I began to move my head up. The blanket of ice had turned into a block. I went to the other side of the bed to check that the tumour had been frozen from behind. The course was clear.  
  
"Well done Matron," Spiritomb announced. "I never thought about freezing. Then again, I don't know how to freeze eggs so I just get it out and burn it."   
  
I'm not sure if that was genuine praise or sarcasm. Surely he'd have know something about freezing bad eggs. I think I need to keep an eye on him. Short-term memory loss was a sign of many disorders. Judging by his family history, it could be the Hacked Syndrome or possibly dementia.   
  
"Let's get this bad egg out," Scarmony announced. "We don't want the ice to thaw out." Scarmony flashed his right silver wing and slashed the ice away from the body with it's wing. Plum caught the ice and his arms shook. He ran to the clinical waste bin where he disposed of it with great relief.   
  
"He's going to be fine," Spiritomb whispered into my ear. I smiled and looked up to Plum, Scarmony and Weeper. "Well done guys," Spiritomb added on my behalf. "I understand it's quite scary to operate on hacked pokémon, but I think you all did really well. Acted on impulse and worked as a team to save Mr. Fierce's life."  
  
"You were all fantastic!" I agreed with Spiritomb. "What we need to do now is stitch everything back up, place him in the pokéball and put him into the purification chamber.   
  
I marched to the sink, disposed of my gloves with the bin aside it, then washed my hands. I stripped of my blue cloak and hat and placed it inside the large red plastic bin where we put dirty clothes in. Everyone was still in the theatre when I left the room. I had a feeling that Spiritomb was going to take charge of the last moments of the operation.   
  
The door I took an exit on lead a block of stairs that go down to the washing area. I expect Plum, Scarmony, Weeper and Spiritomb to follow my steps in 30 minutes. I opened the door and saw a lot of staff relaxing in the hot springs.   
  
I went straight to the shower as I reached for the home-made shampoo and scrubbed as much as I could. Once more staff left the spring I would hop in for a bath, but there was too many pokémon in there. There was meant to be twelve at a time. It was worthless trying to tell them off though.   
  
When all the bug pokémon left the spring, I hopped into the welcoming hot water with floating bubbles down below. Thank goodness, I thought. It was so relaxing I ended up floating around.   
  
"Matron," an audino asked. "When are you going to see the patient in room 31?" I looked up and it was Sparkles. She must have been the same audino who called earlier. "She's very angry that we had to put her sleep because she was attacking staff."  
  
"After I finished my bath," I replied. "I had an intense operation today."  
  
"How's Mr. Fierce?" Sparkles asked. "I didn't see him in his room after I saw you."  
  
"Yes. The operation was successful."  
  
"That's good to hear." Sparkles turned towards Gardevoir who buried her head in her hands. "Things haven't turned out so well for us. The first patient Gardevoir saw. It was an elderly stantler that got hit by a car. It died before we could give it treatment."  
  
Oh the poor girl. First patient she ever had ... dead. She's not the first nurse that it's happened to and it's not going to be the last either. I only took a brief look at the stantler they were talking about. I knew that it had a slim chance of survival, but it didn't stop Gardevoir and Sparkles trying to save it's life.   
  
Gardevoir's uplifting words seemed to help Mr. Fierce. Although it was false hope in a sense. He was going to leave the hospital alive.   
  
With that in mind, I swam over to Gardevoir. Tapping her shoulders I said, "Cheer up Gardevoir, we can't save lives with you crying in the bath all day."  
  
"Am I good enough?" Gardevoir asked herself.   
  
"Don't be so silly," I responded. "Of course you're good enough. You wouldn't be here if you wasn't good enough."  
  
"You really think so?" Gardevoir's wet eyes looked up at me.   
  
"Sure," Sparkles replied on my behalf. She looked up to me and said, "Maybe we should go into room 31 together?"  
  
"Good idea," I said.   
  
"So Mr. Fierce is going to get better?" Gardevoir asked. I nodded and Gardevoir quickly wiped her eyes and stopped crying. "So who's in room 31?"  
  
"One of the legendary ones," Sparkles replied. "She requested that her identity was to be kept secret. There are some escavaliers and Maine guarding her room."  
  
I had a very good idea who this patient was.


	6. Pregnant Mew

Gardevoir felt a lot better, so she and Sparkles headed straight for Room 31. I suspected it was the patient I recognised when I was slapped by the tail. I knew that Gardevoir was in for a blow because she may not have seen a legendary pokémon before. If Nurse Joy was about, I might have gotten into trouble for not attending to the patient first. We had to attend to the rarer pokémon first. So if there was three bidoofs and one dratini, we'd have to treat the dratini first. This was the one rule that I've always broken, but in the end, I will have my say and the human nurses would understand. 

The patient and I go back a couple years. It was the same Mew that I saw in the Kanto Clinic I used to work for all those years ago. They took her DNA and used it to make her pregnant. After many still births, she gave birth to a hybrid. They named the child: Mewtwo. 

The biological father was a psychic arceus they created in the lab. The way they separated Mew away from her child like that was cruel. The company that owned the clinic was so profit-minded that they neglected care. I couldn't do my job properly. 

I don't think Mewtwo ever saw his own father. He won't be able to see him either; the arceus perished in an explosion. I warned the scientists it would harm Mewtwo's welfare if they confined him to the lab. They wouldn't listen to me because I wasn't human. Oh well, it's not my fault they died. I have no sympathy for any of them apart from the poor pokémon that suffer in their hands.

Mew rolled on the bed in agony. It was obvious to me what the cause of pain was: a pokémon egg trapped. Her eyes clinched tight and she lost the ability to control her her body's functions. The company have not changed one bit since I left. 

"Have you ever seen a Mew before?" I asked Gardevoir. 

"No," she replied. 

"Well this is the real thing! She has a pokémon egg trapped inside her body. What do the tests say?" I knew the answer, but I needed to test Gardevoir. 

"That there is a foetus inside the egg and there are no bad egg tumours detected in the ultrasound."

"What species is in the egg?" I asked. Sparkles and Gardevoir rushed to study the ultrasound scans. 

"It looks like a Mew," Gardevoir answered. "Although I can't see it's tail. It looks like it has some huge arms and hair. This could be excess skin or possibly a hybrid of Mew and Dusknoir."

I confirmed, "It's a hybrid between Mew and a Darkrai! I urge you both to keep this patient's identity confidential."

"Yes Matron," they said in unison. 

I leaned over to get some eye contact with Mew. "Do you remember me?" I asked curiously. Mew nodded. When Mew's water had broke, I could tell that Gardevoir really wanted to faint. Sparkles was the first to notice the baby bump breaking it's shape. The hybrid had hatched inside Mew. Mewtwo also hatched inside of Mew when he was born. 

"I'm Mummy," Mew crackled. Normally, pokémon lay eggs. If the egg hatches before its been laid then labour or a caesarian would be the best choice. 

"I'm going to support Mew's back," I said to Sparkles. "You and Gardevoir can check what's coming out of Mew." 

It was throwing them both into the deep end, but the hard lessons will stick with them. They deserve to be working here and I refuse to let anything make them feel otherwise. 

"The egg shells are coming out Matron," Gardevoir confirmed.

"Remove them at once Sparkles," I warned, "The hybrid might get stabbed."

"Is it out yet?" Mew asked. She was still just as childish as she was before. It was as if history were repeating itself. 

"It's just the egg shells at the moment," Gardevoir replied. "Keep pushing... Okay I think the head is coming out. It's covered in blood."

"Keep pushing," I requested to Mew. "You're doing very well."

Mew gave out a massive roar so loud it would make an exploud sound like a feather. After what felt like an earthquake to my ear drums, Mew had expelled the newborn hybrid from it's body.

"Can I hold it?" Mew asked me. "They never let me hold my babies before." 

My heart sank. No mother, regardless of species should ever have to ask that question. She was not the first and won't be the last. Gardevoir picked the hybrid up and gently wrapped a towel around the wiggling child. 

"Be careful," Gardevoir warmed. "The bones in the arms are very underdeveloped."

As Mew held her new born baby in her arms I injected pethidine mixed with a full restore. We would need to scan the baby for any more complications considering the hybrid had an abnormal birth. For the time being, I watched over the mother and child with a warm smile attached. Watching new life be born was one of my favourite parts of my profession. 

Mew giggled. "I shall name it Swiss!"

Swiss wasn't a name that I was expecting, but if that's what the mother wants to call it, then so be it. Poor Mew, she's got training difficulties because of her down syndrome and they continued to experiment on her. 

The things humans sometimes do to pokémon drive me insane.


	7. Charsprout

The patient before me was a hybrid. She had a dragon figure with her sharp claws, two horns, long neck and a green flame at the tip of her tail. Her lower head was shaped as a bell and huge pink lips like a tube hid her chin. She shared a Bellsprout's pale yellow skin colour. The front of her wings were russet brown. 

The paramedics told me that her trainer was involved in a car crash, killing him instantly. Charsprout herself became a second close to joining him. Still, Charsprout had to be checked out in case of any internal damage. A lot of the staff feel that Charsprout is physically fine, but I sense that something is troubling her. 

Sometimes people working in the care industry forget to look at the pokémon and not the medical flaws. There have been times where I have been guilty of that. 

"Where's Ritchie?" Charsprout gurgled. "He was going to take me to the seaside."

"Who's Ritchie?" Maxie, an audino asked. 

"He's my trainer," Charsprout replied with a childish grin on her face. "I've never been to the seaside before, Ritchie promised that he would take me there today. When do you think I'll be going?" The audinos frowned as they bowed their heads. It caused Charsprout to raise her voice. "Why is everyone so quiet?"

"I'm sorry Charsprout," I said. "Ritchie hit a sudowoodo in the road. Both Ritchie and the sudowoodo were instantly killed during the impact."

Charsprout gasped. Salivating, she slapped her wings against the frame of the bed. 

"What about everyone else?" she asked frantically. She held onto the bed with her claws and sobbed.

"Sparky is in A&E ward," I replied. "Rose, Happy and Zippo have gone to visit him."

"How's Cruise?"

"We're not sure," I replied. "He wasn't in Sparky's room the last time I checked."

"I did see a tyranitar say his name was Cruise ask to see Sparky," Sparkles said. "Is Cruise a tyranitar?"

Charsprout shook her head and rolled over the bed.

Ironically, a tyranitaur walked into the room. He was around the same height as me, which indicated that he had only recently evolved from a pupitar. Sparkles went over to him and asked, "Are you Cruise?"

"Yep," the tyranitaur replied. "I'm Cruise. How's Charsprout?" 

"We've just told her about Ritchie's death," I said. "I think she'll need as much emotional support as possible."

"Did she sustain any injuries?" 

"None physically," I replied. "The paramedics told me that the ball she was was close to being crushed. "We are going to check if any of her internal organs are damaged."

"When will that be?"

"As soon as possible."

"Cruise..." Charsprout squealed. She held onto Cruise's hand and sunk into his chest. "How's the rest of them?"

"They're all sad about Ritchie," Cruise announced. "Rose, Zippo, Happy and Sparky went into the healing machine. Sparky has to stay a little longer, but the rest of them have completely healed."

"Would like to have a check up as well?" I asked Cruise. He had some shards of glass sticking out of his tail, and his body had clumps of sand on his front body. "It would be beneficial."

"I feel fine thanks," Cruise replied. "As long as my team is fine."

I'm quite concerned for Cruise. I still think he should go into the healing machine, but it's his choice. I have to respect it. All the audinos apart from Maxie and Sparkles left the room. Spiritomb marched into Charsprout's room with a grin on his face. 

"Killer's instinct, eh?" Spiritomb chimed. 

"I beg your pardon?" I yelled. 

"Ritchie would have still been alive if you hadn't of caused a sand stream in the car."

"Spiritomb!" I said calmly. "That's no way to talk to a visitor." I should have known that I could walk straight through him, but it was instinct. 

"You know it's really unprofessional to let killers be treated in this hospital so they do it again."

"Sorry," Cruise interpreted. "I'm not in the mood for this. But if it makes you feel better, I'll have a check up."

"I think that's a wise decision," I said. I turned to Spiritomb and told him, "follow me to the nurse's station."

Spiritomb remained silent to my surprise. He was intelligent, but sometimes outspoken. I wondered if it had anything to do with his intolerance towards rock type pokémon? I hope not. 

"What on earth on what outburst for?" I snapped. "Those pokémon lost their trainer from a car crash."

"It's the truth."

"What's the truth?" Sometimes I just don't understand Spiritomb. He was a great doctor, but some of his actions made no sense. "They're grieving... and you telling a visitor that it's his own fault isn't going to make it any better. Remember our job is to make pokémon feel better."

"What I did was equivalent to the times where you accused Crasher Wake of being abusive when I treating his pokémon.”

“That was a long time ago,” I responded in defense. 

“No it wasn't,” Spiritomb laughed. “It was only yesterday. But Crasher Wake's discharged himself again. Anyway what did you bring me here for?”

Oh my goodness. He can't remember what just happened, but he can remember what happened years ago. Either Spiritomb was teasing me, or he's developing serious signs of dementia. 

“Spiritomb lately you've been different,” I told him. 

Spiritomb laughed. “What are you talking about? There's nothing wrong with me?”

“You did accuse a tryanitar of killing their trainer,” I reminded him. 

“All rock pokémon are scum,” Spritomb growled. 

I'm trying to see all of this happening in Spiritomb's eyes, but all I can see is distortions of time. He was forgetting things and acting brash about it. This is something that I need to speak to Nurse Joy about, when I get to see her. 

“Okay Spiritomb, maybe it's time you had some rest.”

“Rest sounds good,” Spiritomb replied. “Where?”

“Back inside your medical ball.” 

“Oh right!”

I knew I had to keep a close eye on him from now on.


	8. Little-Wit

Spiritomb would often speak in pride about his two daughters. I had only seen his youngest, Little-Wit. I think that Little-Wit is most likely to be his favourite daughter, he talks about her the most. I'm sure he loves Minerva just as much, but I don't think they really see each other. To be fair, Spiritomb is very lucky to be able to see his direct family. Not many pokémon from the working class can say that they're still in contact with their biological relatives. 

The same could go for the domestic class. Pokémon get captured, released, traded away, sent to day care and get to travel. There were a lot of pokémon social classes acknowledged, but the class terms are only used in education institutions nowadays. 

At this current moment in time, there were 649 species registered as pokémon in the national pokédex. Back when I was a chansey, they didn't have national dexes. Pokédexes were pretty poor because they only did regional dexes, pokémon that originated from other regions where classified as missingno. The healing machine wrongly diagnosed them with the Hacked Syndrome and they didn't enforce the Drug Protection For Pokémon Act properly until I worked here.

Regardless of Spiritomb's state of mind, he would have been considered a glitch to the pokédex, because his species was registered under Sinnoh's pokédex. They had recently added pokémon that originated from Unova onto the national pokédex, so Spiritomb's daughter, Little-Wit would have been officially seen by the Pokémon League as a pokémon.

They were still major flaws in my opinion, although I can see it's improvements. Kanto had always been the ultimate pokémon region. If a pokémon didn't originate from Kanto, then it wasn't a pokémon according to the experts at the time. Then they added pokémon from Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh and Unova respectively.

The pokémon god, Arceus wasn't added to the national pokédex until they added all of the Sinnoh pokémon. It was shocking that hardly any trainers (apart from the ones that specialise in ghosts) knew about Arceus until he was added by the league. Don't they teach religion any more? Criminal gangs know more about pokémon than the league does, but they're slowly catching up with the help of Bulba University, Smogon University and the University Of Orre. 

The former Gym Leader of Viridian City discovered that Rhydon could evolve in the same underground clinic I used to work for in Kanto. He also owned Team Rocket and quickly evacuated when defeated by a young boy who would eventually become the Kanto Champion. The underground clinic was converted into underground trains. Although Little-Wit has told me that they've reserved some of the clinic as museum. 

Little-Wit sat quietly in the staff's lounge, munching on assorted berries. Next to her, was a mismagius, whom I've never met before. I assumed it was Little-Wit's older half-sister, Minerva. On the opposite side of them, Sparkles was spending her lunch break sleeping. 

“Hi Matron,” Little-Wit said. “When does Dad's shift end?”

“He'll be out soon,” I replied. “I told him to have a bit of a rest before he goes home. So... how's your mother been?”

“Our mothers are gone,” Little-Wit responded. She tilted her head down as she continued with, “They were traded away to someone from Brazil.”

“You must be Minerva then?” I asked with my eyes on the mismagius. They both nodded as Minerva hand-picked the darkest berries left. 

“Yes,” Minerva nodded her head. “I'm a care assistant at Lavender Town Nursing Home.”

“It used to be a beautiful place,” Little-Wit added. “Until they converted Pokémon Tower to a radio station. It was a lot of fun when it was a cemetery.”

“Lavender Town's still a nice town,” Minerva objected. “A lot of people were sceptical about the radio tower, but we've gotten use to it now. Why they did it? I don't know, but Mr. Fuji has built a memorial house next to where I work.” 

“Mr. Fuji's a nice man.” He came several times to the underground clinic, requesting that they took greater responsibility of the pokémon in their care. One of his relatives was involved with trying to get Mew pregnant.

Minerva didn't speak much about herself other than the fact she worked in a nursing home. Little-Wit had discussed about her time in Lavender Town until Spiritomb came into the staff room. 

“I've booked the two weeks off,” Spiritomb told us. “I'll be spending a lot more time with my little gem.” 

“What about me?” Minerva asked.

“And you too Matilda,” Spiritomb asked.

“...It's Minerva. Matilda's been traded away,” Minerva moaned. There was a tint of sadness in the tone of her voice. Little-Wit was too young to notice it, but I could. “Maybe you should go to the respite in Celadon for a while.”

“Why do we have to go to Celadon?” Spiritomb asked. “I thought you worked in Lavender Town?”

“Oh I still do,” Minerva responded. Her enthusiasm seemed to increased at the sight of her father's deteriorating. “You'll need a rest after working so hard. Come on, Agatha's waiting for us.”

“Sure,” Spiritomb said. “Let's hope she wins big on them slot machines.” 

“I think we'll be visiting Bertha first,” Little-Wit said, looking up to her father. “She's not been very well lately.” 

“Oh that's unfortunate,” Spritomb said. “Her quagsire was in not so long ago.” Spiritomb followed his daughters out of the staff room. Before leaving the room, he turned around and said to me, “see you in a fortnight, Matron!”

Sparkles remained laying flat on the chairs. There was nothing else for me to do here: my lunch break had ended. I could still hear Sparky, the pikachu from the A&E ward wailing in agony. The injuries he sustained were vicious, but losing his trainer was what left him distraught. If Sparky keeps going, he'll develop a soar throat. Telling him to stop would only make it worse. I don't think it's right to tell someone when to stop grieving. I'm sure it will all be fine by the time he's ready to sleep. 

I went into the discharge ward to have a check up on some of the patients. They need access to fluids at all times. I was happy to see that Mr. Fierce was there, but I had hoped that he would have been gone. 

Mr. Fierce was in-between a sleepy bisharp, known as Bishop and a timid cubone named Phantom. Phantom was a strange cubone. He collapsed in the shopping centre from deficiency in nutrients. He was also one of the fussiest eaters I had ever met, but he also seemed to have valid reasons. We had to put him on the drip because we were concerned that he may die of hunger. 

And all he'd ever eat was spinach and cabbage. As healthy as they are, he needed much more than greens to gain health. 

Phantom's ribs above his stomach and spikes on the tail horrified me. This Cubone had anorexia nervosa. Luckily we managed talk to his trainer about introducing regular meals and a healthy and balanced diet. Phantom's trainer had been going through diet fazes which Phantom had tried to picked up on, but confused him along the way. 

“I can't have this drink,” Phantom announced. Holding his bone in both hands he pushed the drink to the corner of the table. 

“Of course you can,” I said. 

“I'm diabetic I can't drink it.”

“I'm aware of your diabetes,” I assured Phantom. I held the drink to him and told him, “but this juice is suitable for diabetic people.” This reminded me of the times where he had his dinner. On his first night in the hospital, he refused to eat his beef lasagne because he said he was a vegetarian and that he was on the Atkins diet so he couldn't have any food with carbohydrates in them. 

One time he was served an omelette, but he refused to have it because he said he was a vegan. He wouldn't have his pudding because he was scared it would effect his diabetes. In the end, the other pokémon patients would polish his plate on his behalf. 

Pokémon should never go on those kind of diets. Never! 

“Go on have it!” Mr. Fierce told Phantom. “You don't want to go on the drip again.”

With his free hand, Phantom reached for his blackcurrant juice and took a sip. Bishop's eyes shot open. He jumped on the bed when he saw Phantom drinking. 

“Oh my goodness,” Bishop cried. “Phantom's having something.” 

“Well done Phantom.” I patted his head as he tucked into a bowl of peanuts. 

“Was I asleep for long?” Bishop asked. 

“Not really,” croaked Mr. Fierce. “That pikachu's still at it though. I couldn't really sleep that much to be honest.”

“I didn't get a wink of sleep last,” Bishop confessed. “I was in A&E and the noise was dreadful. And I thought my wounds were bad, but everyone else seemed to have it twice as worse as me.”

As I walked away from Mr. Fierce, Bishop and Phantom, I wondered how much Kanto had changed since I left. From what Minerva and Little-Wit have said, it seems to have changed immensely. I wonder if they'll start making dangerous drugs such as action replay, game shark, game genie, and equalizer illegal? Action Replay Pills were still commercially available in Kanto. 

Maybe if they stopped selling it, so many pokémon wouldn't die from the hacked syndrome. The hospital's expert of the hacked syndrome will be on holiday for two weeks, we had a reputation of giving the best care to people with that disease. Will be still be able to save lives without Spiritomb's assistance?


	9. Teddy Bear

Ursula was not a friendly teddy bear. Let's put it this way, she would be the last thing I would want to hug. That aside, she had been in this hospital for three months. It seems her trainer couldn't cope, so she was left to die in Route 212. We don't know anything about the trainer, but he or she really needs to know that there are better ways to release pokémon than that. Is it any wonder she's in distress? Ursula had behaved viscous ever since she was admitted. When she was put into the healing machine, nothing had happened so we had to investigate her case further. She had poor mobility and coordination: always falling out of her bed and breaking something. Simple tasks such as holding items and picking them up was grueling and would often end in violence.  
  
I first thought her behaviour was due to ADHD and insomnia. The staff had a great debate on how to diagnose and cure Ursula. There were many disagreements with it and in the end it took us a fortnight to officially diagnose Ursula with Dyspraxia. I have dealt with patients with Dyspraxia before, but the patients I've dealt with before were usually optimistic and hopeful for a brighter future. I see none of that in Ursula. She threw tantrums like a human child.  
  
I'm the only pokémon allowed in Ursula's room. We had moved her three times before we settled her into this room. I've seen no difference in her behaviour, but it keeps the staff safe. Six pokémon nurses had to use the healing machine because of encounters with Ursula. Plum needed to spend the rest of his shift in A&E to recover. If I was working in that other clinic, they would have used her as one of their personal fighting machines. They're weren't afraid to use a lethal injection on pokémon they considered to be useless. Bloody disgusting if you ask me.  
  
I'm meant to have a human with me when entering her room, but they all seem to be either busy or on their lunch break. I reckon that they're scared that Ursula will bite their arm off. They can be pretty cowardly sometimes. That's perhaps why they leave us to do the dirty work, whilst their scoffing what our chefs, Swampy and Fusion have been cooking. Human behaviour is confusing, so I guess I'm going to be alone with Ursula.  
  
Ursula was crawling about on the floor. She buried her nose into her arm and loudly sniffed. With her sharp claws she hopped over to the rail bars and clenched her teeth on the gate. I hope we're not having an inspection today, we're not allowed to cage pokémon; it's cruelty. They all thought that they had no choice. There had to be a better way to treat Ursula than to lock her up in a cage. We're a hospital not a zoo. She growled at me and yawned. She wrestled with herself on the ground it was as if she was trying to show me something.  
  
"What's wrong?" I asked, shamelessly marching closer.  
  
Ursula slowly lifted her head, grabbing onto my arms she roared and tried to jump on her feet. She tumbled and pulled me down with her.  
  
"Did you want to go to bed?"  
  
Ursula nodded, rolled over to reach her pillow and using the bars around the room, got back into bed. That wasn't so bad after all. She just wanted her pillow. I don't think the bed she's sleeping on is really appropriate for Ursula.  
  
First of all, the bed was tattered in scratch marks and fluff. Secondly, the mattress was a joke, not only for being the state it was, but also because it's a human sized mattress; far too thin for Ursula's needs. If they started using beds that fit the patient's size, they'd probably save money from having to fix them. But some of these humans that work here, they're all paranoid about finical costs. Ursula slid off the bed again, landing head first on the floor.  
  
In the heat of the moment I bounced over to the wall and pressed the emergency button. These falls are getting ridiculous. I'm going to get trouble for coming into Ursula's room on my own, but in all due respect, the human doctors should also get warnings for neglecting Ursula. I hope a human member of staff comes, I'm sick of them loafing about.  
  
A tall man barged into the room in a heartbeat. I thought to myself, wow that was quick for a change. Never seen a human doctor run so fast in his life. I've seen him a couple of times in staff meetings, if I recall correctly, he was one of the digital monster doctors … I suppose it's better than waiting ages for a human doctor.  
  
"How can I help?" the man asked. Engraved on his badge was the name, Joe Kido. Seems like everybody knows someone called Joe.  
  
"We need to check if Ursula has any fractures or broken bones," I said. "Ursula's been frequently falling off the bed. She will need a bigger bed."  
  
"I see what you mean," Joe responded. "Alakazam will need to teleport a mammoth size mattress for her. But first let's check Ursula."  
  
"Be careful," I warned Joe before he dodged Ursula's sharp claws. "Ursula is a wild thing."  
  
"It's okay," Joe responded. He smiled at me and said, "I've seen many wild things in my time."  
  
I bet he has, being a digital monster doctor. I don't really understand digital monsters, they function very differently to pokémon, but there was a time where some people couldn't tell the difference. Digital monsters never really die according to the human experts who specialise in them. When they run out of energy they dissolve into millions of pieces and then reborn from an egg.  
  
Even monsters not registered as pokémon are treated in this hospital. That's why they hire people like Joe for their knowledge in other creatures not registered by the Pokémon League. It's always been this way since Fantina was appointed as gym leader of the city. Gym leaders are more powerful than they think. Chances are if they were as loud as Fantina they could change the laws. There were times when the government wanted to lift the ban on Action Replay, but the gym leaders packed together against it.  
  
I love Fantina. She's a hard-worker and a gym leader that actually does something for the community. She's good enough to be in the Elite Four, but that's her problem: she's too good. Aside from being a gym leader, she was also a contest judge and on top of that Fantina ran a dance club in Amity Square for pokémon with training difficulties and hybrids. The woman is going to tire herself out one of these days.  
  
"Just a couple bruises," Joe confirmed. "A change of medication is required. And of course a new bed."  
  
In that very moment, an alakazam suddenly appeared with a mattress fit for a wailord. The abra line were a fascinating species, using their psychic powers to full use. The psychic pokémon had to perfect their mind-reading skills to fulfill requests in an instant. The mattress was bigger than what I expected it to be, but it seemed to be perfect for Ursula. The height was perfect, it meant we wouldn't need railings and Ursula could easily roll herself back up if she falls off the bed, but I doubt that would happen due to the size. Alakazam dragged the new mattress to the bed with his mind. Soon the broken bed vanished and the new mattress was in place.  
  
Alakazam vanished before we could even say thanks.  
  
"What do you think of your new bed?" Joe asked Ursula.  
  
Ursula crawled onto the new mattress. Her pillow was tucked under her arm. She growled, but it seemed to be more of an expression of happiness than anger. Could that even be a small giggle? She smiled as she rolled along the bed, until she slumbered into a comfortable position.  
  
"Ursula will benefit from a walking stick," Joe told me.  
  
"I was thinking the same thing," I admitted.  
  
"Once Ursula has had some rest, we should try her on the healing machine again. If she still has problems, then we should refer Ursula to the physio ward."  
  
"That sounds like a good idea. I still think she should go to physio anyway."  
  
"We should get rid of these rail bars at some point," Joe admitted. "Ursula must find them really intimidating. She already feels isolated with her condition."  
  
The digital monster doctor was pretty good. I didn't expect him to act the way he did. I assumed that since he was a digital monster doctor that he would panic whilst treating pokémon. I didn't know much about digital monsters, so if I see Joe again, maybe I can ask him. It seems he gets on well with the pokémon staff because of how quickly Alakazam responded to him. He seemed to be someone who tried to look at things through the patient's eyes.  
  
Five seconds after Joe left the room, Ursula snored away to her heart's content. All the ursaring wanted was a good bed to sleep in.


	10. Pokémon Prostitute

Poképhiles: the scum of the earth. Horndogs with nobody to be intimate with seeking thrills from pokémon. Sexual relationships with pokémon are illegal in Sinnoh and I'm quite sure they're illegal in the other pokémon regions too. Team Rocket look like saints next to them. The gardevoir was flustered, but covered in cuts and bruises. I rolled my eyes at the nickname her original trainer gave her. It was a four letter word beginning with C, and I won't be using it any time soon.

 

An infamous case in Kanto had caused mayhem five years ago. A trainer raped a gardevoir, then had a threesome with a Nurse Joy and her father. The trainer had a gore fetish which cost him, the Nurse Joy and her father their lives. What happened to the gardevoir remained a mystery. They had police and rangers rummaging all over Kanto to find her, but they gave up after a fortnight and assumed she was dead.

 

It made me wonder if this gardevoir was the same one from the infamous case. The man responsible for the case was named David. Coincidently, the gardevoir's original trainer was called David. One of the paramedics said that when they found her, she was unconscious and covered in human semen. They didn't find the poképhiles that did it to her, but I hope they get the full weight of justice land on their head.

 

It was one of the scariest cases I've ever heard. But what made me feel worse was that there was much more gruesome abuse that hides behind closed doors. Perhaps I should be a bit more resistant to extreme abuse cases, but it would make anyone with a heart shiver.

 

I overheard one of the audinos whisper that the gardevoir was beyond help. They had to put her to sleep many times to prevent the other patients from being traumatised. I'm not so sure why Nurse Joy still wanted the gardevoir to be placed in the A&E ward. She had been making strange sounds that made trainers concerned that it could possibly corrupt their pokémon. Some of the trainers won't give their pokémon sex education. Why would they? They probably haven't had sex education either.

 

If healthcare wasn't free, they'd be suffering like those trainers in Africa. My older sister works as a nurse there, and she's never had a day off. She was still a chansey and the last time she came over to Sinnoh, she broke down in tears because she couldn't evolve into a blissey. All that stress is stopping her from evolving.

 

I remember evolving from a chansey to a blissey when I finished nursing school and got accepted a place in Smogon University. I remember it as one of the most happiest days of my life. All that hard work and resisting temptation of drugs had paid off. I didn't expect my trainer and I to get separated during university. When they suspected something was up, they demanded my trainers whole team to have a health check, urine test and blood test. My trainer tried to avoid it, but I took the tests anyway. I passed them, since I didn't take any drugs, but the rest of her team failed the tests so she was expelled.

 

I never heard from my original trainer or any of her team since. One of the lecturers allowed me to rent his old office to sleep in. Then after I graduated, it was him who took me to the underground clinic in Kanto. I was a nurse for a couple of months and then promoted as a matron. I admit looking back my experience at Smogon was dodgy. I wouldn't have recommended that clinic to anyone, but I was able to learn things the hard way.

 

This patient had to learn things the hard way too: sex education in it's cruellest form. But I can't rush this yet, we haven't properly diagnosed her. It was times like this I wish my arms were longer. It was an unpleasant smell, but the sweet scents weren't doing much for it.

 

The gardevoir woke up as soon as I lifted her arm. She opened her eyes and yawned. "Where's my master?" She asked in a fragile and broken voice. Her eyes were filled with tears. She swung her arms and looked away from me.

 

"You won't be seeing your master in a while," I replied.

 

She twirled her head and her eyes widened. "Why?"

 

"Your master has done something terrible," I told her. "He's made made you do things that were wrong."

 

"Am I bad?"

 

"It's not your fault," I said, forcing myself to smile. "You were abused. That's not your fault. How are you feeling?" The gardevoir said nothing and yawned. I tightened up a bandage on her arm for her. "You should have some rest," I instructed. "We'll talk about this more once you've recovered some energy."

 

The gardevoir closed her eyes and slept like a log. Let's hope that if this is the same gardevoir, that she will go into a much safer environment. Them filthy poképhiles better get locked up soon, before more pokémon are forced into the illegal sex trade. Gosh if Spiritomb were here, he'd have a lot to say about them psychos.

 

"It's what we feared Matron," Sparkles said passing me a folder that contained results from the health checks. "She's HIV Positive and it's hacked. Check the scan of her ovaries, there's a broken bad egg in there."

 

I stopped to the corner and had a look at the results. People with HIV can live a normal life, but it's a deadly disease to pokémon. Pokémon who were both HIV positive and hacked had little chance of survival. The tumours will thrive and continue to grow.

 

"Okay Sparkles, fetch a full restore, I'll be waiting in the gardevoir's room."

 

I hurried back to the gardevoir's room and she was still asleep. The full restore wouldn't cure her conditions, but it will help towards killing any bad eggs. Being a psychic type, she would only need a full restore to eliminate the tumours. If it were any other type, then we would have had to removed the tumours by operation like we did with Mr. Fierce.

 

I believe her past sexual desires were all part of an act to please her trainers. She was clearly traumatised by the physical demands of the game. Gardevoir's have naturally low physical defence so it's no wonder why she's spent most of her time sleeping since being admitted.

 

Nurse Joy came into the room with the full restore.

 

"Where's Sparkles?" I asked.

 

"I've sent her to work with Monica in the baby ward," Nurse Joy responded. "I took this from her. She walked over to the gardevoir and sprayed the full restore on gardevoir's chest. She woke up from the chemicals reacting, but still managed to look peaceful. "There you are gardevoir," Nurse Joy said. "That should help make you feel better. We'll need to give you an operation at some point and after that we can talk about your future."

 

The gardevoir said nothing but smiled as she tried to get back to sleep.

 

"Maybe should should take a week off?" Nurse Joy suggested to me. "You should see Spiritomb?"

 

"A week off?" I was stunned. I've never been asked to have a week off, nor have I even requested a day off. I understand the other pokémon staff having days off: they've got family and trainers to go home to. I consider my hospital to be my home. The thought of having a week off from home seemed weird to me. "But what would I do with myself?"

 

"As I said," Nurse Joy answered. "You can see Spiritomb at respite. You two are pretty much best friends. You've known each other for a long time."

 

I'm not sure if best friends is the appropriative term. We do however work very well together.

 

"How will the hospital cope without me?" I asked. "A lot of the staff come to me for advice all the time."

 

"They'll be fine," Nurse Joy replied with a smile on her face. "And when you come back from your holiday, the hospital will be fine as usual."

 

I frowned and said, "Well if you insist, I'll consider having a week off."

 

"It will be a long journey from here to Lavender Town. The next train to Lavender Town will be ready in fourty-five minutes."

 

I quickly turned around as if I was having some sort of heart attack. "You want me to have the week off now?"

 

Nurse Joy nodded. "You deserve it. You've been working so hard for many years. Everybody needs to rest. I've already bought you your ticket."

 

Nurse Joy handed me the ticket and I hopped backwards. "This is ridiculous," I snapped.

 

"What do you mean?"

 

"My patient is dying and you're telling me to go on holiday."

 

"Now that's enough Matron." Nurse Joy hugged me. "Remember you can't solve all of the hospital's problems on your own."

 

That's true. I can't solve all the worlds problems on my own, but I can try. I sighed. "As the matron in charge I'm asking you to respect my choice."

 

"It will only be for a week," Nurse Joy insisted. She rubbed my back and continued with, "Believe me Matron it's for your own good. You'll be coming back feeling refreshed."

 

I had been defeated. I held onto the ticket and stared at Nurse Joy. "Okay, I'll go, I'm sure Spiritomb would benefit from my visit."

 

"That's the spirit," Nurse Joy exclaimed. "Now you better head off to the train station."

 

"I will."

 

I waved to Nurse Joy and quietly made my way down to the train station. A part of me did want to see Spiritomb and check how he's doing, but I still couldn't help but think of that poor gardevoir. The patient didn't say much, but the words she said have me the goosebumps. 'Am I bad?' could be her very last words. Even though Nurse Joy meant no offence and had stated that I had done an excellent job over the years, I felt like stepping into the train was letting that gardevoir down.


	11. Holiday Child

I don't remember having a day off work in my life. A week off was an alarming shock for me. I could see Nurse Joy's point, but I wish she had suggested it at a better time. Not when I was in the middle of dealing a patient. Goodness knows how that gardevoir is coping. Death rates has soared since the 1990's, of course care had increased. The healing machine was used worldwide in 1995 whilst the purification chamber was released in 2005.

The journey to Lavender Town was a rather quiet one. I expected that there would be a couple of battles on the train, but I didn't hear any trainers cry for a battle at all. I seemed to have been surrounded by the business class with all these men and women in smart suits. I think of a lot of them were going to stop off at Saffron City.

Luckily for me, the nursing home was only around the corner from the train station. My thoughts were with that gardevoir. I still couldn't bring myself to call her by her original trainer's nickname, but I really hope she survives. I don't think I could dare look at Nurse Joy again if she dies.

"Hello Minerva." I saw her waiting outside the doors. Nurse Joy must have told her about my visit. Minerva's shoulders shivered. She had been waiting for me for a while.

"Oh good afternoon Matron," Minerva said with a smile on her face. "Did you come to see my dad?"

"Yes, Nurse Joy sent me over to check how he was doing."

"He's been feeling a lot better now," Minerva told me. "He's been diagnosed with delirium. It's not so severe though, he's been recovering quickly. The symptoms can get mixed up with dementia, so that's why it seemed as if he was losing touch with reality. I think he was just missing his family. So how long are you in Kanto for?"

"I'm here for the week." I didn't like the tone of Minerva's voice when she told me Spiritomb's diagnosis. Maybe she was trying to put on a brave face, but I found it more concerning that she was smiling. Something was iffy and I don't like how dementia is being ruled out. It's hard for most healthcare professionals to detect the difference between dementia and delirium, so I think he should have more tests. Delirium and dementia are both horrible and the sad thing is... a lot of trainers assume that only humans can get it.

"That's good." Minerva began to grin. "Before you see him, I have to give you a vaccine." Minerva slid the doors open and lead me into one of the nursing offices.

"Right, what sort of injection is it?"

"I have to inject you so you can't catch pokérus."

"Really?" I asked. "But pokérus is completely harmless."

"Not if it's from a pokémon that's hacked," Minerva explained. "The hacked syndrome makes the pokémon that catch it more liable to other diseases. I'm sure you know all this, but it's procedure I have to take."

"If you insist..." I think I remember Spiritomb mentioning something like that before. Minerva's been doing her homework.

"First I want you to hop onto the bed and lay down." Just as requested, I hopped on the bed. It felt really strange being on the patient's side. We didn't say anything to each other until after the injection. I would have preferred the injection to be somewhere over above my torso, but if it's a policy, there'd be no point fighting it. But it's comforting to know that they've done something about treating people with the Hacked Syndrome.

After the vaccine (which gave me an incredible feeling of weirdness racing down my back), Minerva led me to Spiritomb's bedroom. Tucked into bed with a smile on his face. Everybody running around for him, instead of the other way around.

"He's just finished his afternoon kip," Minerva told me. She turned over to her father, who had been losing touch with reality. If it continues to worsen, he may be told to retire. I'm sure it's going to break his heart. He loves his job. I've known him for a long time and I just know he'd struggle to occupy himself. He was fine at the home because he was with his family and it was only temporary.

I could imagine if that was me who was forced to retire, I couldn't live with myself. Ever since I was a happiny, I knew I wanted to get into nursing. I was good in battles, but I never really had a real passion for it. But I would always get kicks when I had to heal my trainer's team.

Those were the days I would rather forget. I couldn't bring myself to say my trainer's name sometimes. I spent the first ten years of my life with Justine. We didn't really get on as well as she did with the rest of her team. We hardly spoke to each other when we were at university because of her drug addiction. She only had herself to blame for being expelled.

Justine was out of my life now. I bet she's somewhere around Kanto where her drug addiction was embraced.

No, now is not the time for a flashback.

Spiritomb asked how everybody was getting on at the hospital. I told him that things were pretty much the same and that things were fine. He glared at me, as if he could see right through me. I guess being a blissey makes me easy to read. We're described as being happy all the time. So if one's got a miserable face, something has to be wrong, right?

That gardevoir...

"The prostitute..." I groaned. "She's positive for the Hacked Syndrome and HIV. The full restore won't be enough. If Nurse Joy hasn't had told me to go on holiday, she might have felt better."

"Don't beat yourself up about it," Spritomb said. "She would has a small chance of survival. If you ask me I think she'd be better off dead."

He seemed to be back to his normal old self again. As harsh as it was, it's something he would normally say. I didn't want to hear it, but I knew it was coming.

"HIV and the Hacked Syndrome are a deadly combo," Spiritomb explained. "It leaves the immune system helpless. Anyway, did you hear the news about that tyranitar who tried to commit suicide?"

"No."

"Well it's the same one who lost that trainer in that car crash. Pretty sad really. I can't remember what I said to him, but it must have hurt him pretty bad." At that point, Spiritomb's gaze returned. "You know my parents had were hacked, well I've inherited some of their corrupt genes which means that my memory can become impaired."

"You were pretty racist," I said. "I know you're not fond of rock types for whatever reason, but you accused him of killing his trainer."

"I remember now," Spiritomb claimed. "He sneezed and let out a sandstorm in his trainer's car. The trainer collided into a sudowoodo. Everybody survived apart from the trainer and sudowoodo. If I recall correctly, he was a support worker. The trainer had a pikachu called Sparky."

How on earth did I miss Cruise's attempted suicide? Did all of this happen as soon as I left the hospital. I knew that they would have a tough time without me. That Nurse Joy is mad.

"One thing that I'm worried about," Spiritomb pondered. "It's my daughter Minerva... I think she's trying to kill me off."

"What?" I gasped. I thought this was going to be something about the hospital. I didn't expect it had anything to do with his family. Maybe that's why he favours Little-Wit so much more. Spiritomb pulled me closer and quenched his eyes shut. "So whatever happens to me I just want you to know that... I love you and whatever you do, don't let Minerva give you any medication."

I had to blink and shake my head. My ears must have been deceiving me. Did he just say that he loved me? I'm sure he means it in a professional way. As in... he admires all the hard work I've done over the years and that's it's inspired him to become a better nurse.

I could imagine little stars floating around my head.

"What's wrong?"

"It's too late," I whispered. "She gave me an injection."

"Oh dear."

"But why would you think something like that?" I asked curiously. "Minerva seems to do her job well."

"What you've got to understand about Minerva is that she's very selfish, but what sort of injection was it?"

"She told me it was a vaccine to protect me from viruses. She put the needle in a funny place though."

"Where may I ask?"

"I'd rather not say."

"You've been tricked."

"What makes you say that?"

"Minerva's got some loose screws," Spiritomb informed me. "Sometimes I wonder if she really is my child. I'm sure Agatha was mistaken when she said that I'm her father."

"But you were left in a day care centre with Matilda?" I asked.

"That doesn't mean it's my child," Spiritomb retorted. "We did make love, I wasn't the only pokémon she slept with at the day care centre. It could have been anyone's child."

"Is that why you favour Little-Wit more?"

"I wouldn't exactly call it favouring," Spiritomb admitted. "I know she's my child. She's got my eyes and her mother was quite reserved. Little-Wit's mother really loved me..."

"But Agatha traded-"

Before I could finish my sentence, an ache from my backside tumbled me over to the floor. Spiritomb was laughing whilst his eyes were fixed on me. He cackled. "I think you might be laying an egg,"

"Am I really laying an egg?" I gasped, rolling over the floor. "Do you mean that Minerva's artificially inseminated me?"

"Yep, and she's probably mixed instant egg drops in there too."

"INSTANT EGG DROPS?"

Instant egg drops had proven to show no significant damage, but we still wouldn't recommend them. The mother needs time to lay the egg and the foetus needs time to develop in the womb so the egg can absorb calcium. These drops can make pokémon be born at an alarming rate, the egg shell that protects the foetus can be very soft and can hatch prematurely.

I'm certain they have a connection to the Hacked Syndrome, but I've never got round to actually proving it. The egg that I expelled from my body was small. It was pink with white stripes on it. The average pokémon eggs are usually quite large can be roughly be twice the size of a human baby's head. Depending on what form they're in, the egg sizes can vary.

It was not as painful as expected from a birth, but that's because the egg was so small and came out very quickly. My species are expected to carry the egg for as long as two months and it will hatch within a fortnight. Heat, movement and off course those drops can make the process of birth much quicker.

The chansey line are always female, so I was certain that it was going to be female. Sperm with the y chromosome were often rejected. Although I have heard of one case where a chansey had a son, but he was a still-born hybrid.

My child was going to come out of the shell soon. The metallic shine on the egg was a sign that it was an artificial egg. Naturally made eggs would have a rough complexion. I wouldn't dare touch it, I'll let the child come out on it's own.

"I know the man who invented the drug," Spiritomb told me with his eyes on the egg. I liked how he was tucking on berries as if he was eating popcorn in a cinema. "His name was Rocker. He was some trainer. His team were addicted to drugs. A blissey knocked out his entire team and he said he was clean ever since."

"This Rocker chap... did he have a dragonite on his team?" The name was strangely familiar.

"Oh yes," he replied. "That dragonite is his baby."

"Then I'm that blissey," I said. I don't think he remembers me, but I can't forget his face. "By the way, he's still using drugs. He came into the centre with a team of sableyes with wonder gaurd."

"Really?"

"My original trainer battled him while we were at Smogon. I pretty much beat all of his team because my trainer kept on telling me to use ice beam, toxic and softboiled."

"It's small world after all."

"I even beat his sap sipper swampert," I told him. "They didn't expect ice beam to do much damage, but he passed out from the toxic."

"Well that one is certainly on drugs," Spiritomb said. "Ten years time that Swampert is going to be in a wheelchair."

"It looks like we'll be having a lot of stuff to do when we get back," I announced.

"Sure does."

A happiny hatched from the egg, so luck incense was obviously mixed. She looked down on her pouch and cried. She crawled over to me and stared at the egg in my pouch. I took the egg out of my pouch and plopped the child in it's place. She was so tiny, but it was understandable since she hatched prematurely. There seemed to be no obvious defects so far, but I still had to be careful.

"I think I should ring the bell to get you both cleaned up," Spiritomb suggested.

"I think I'll be fine."

"You've just had a baby," he reminded me. "You need time to collect your thoughts." He pushed the button near his bed and a pair of chanseys came running through the door. "Now my friend's just had a baby, and I was wondering if you two could be so kind to take her to give her a spare room?"

The chansey's nodded. One of them pointed her arm and said, "I'll go and get a wheelchair."

"I won't need a wheelchair," I said. "I'm perfectly mobile."

Spiritomb's eyes pierced at me. "Listen to them, Matron." I rolled my eyes and as soon as the wheelchair was ready, I sat down and played with my daughter's hair.

They took me downstairs to a room with a view of the river. They tucked me into bed and set out a little cot for my child to sleep on when I was ready to place her to bed. My egg was placed inside the cot. They left saying that if I needed anything, I would just need to ring the bell. I knew that I would be okay. All this fuss over me felt weird. I think if it was any other pokémon I knew from work, they'd be embracing this.

I saw Minerva outside by herself. I wanted to have a few words with her... Whether her mother was promiscuous, it didn't excuse her behaviour. She would have been in big trouble if she was a human. I hopped outside to see her. I was quite surprised they didn't lock the this place up. Anybody could go wondering about. Minerva waved as she dropped to the floor.

"How are things Matron?" Minerva asked.

"Fine," I lied. "It seems your vaccine has given me baby."

Minerva looked down and saw the happiny sleeping in my pouch. She gasped. "Oh my goodness I'm so sorry!" There was something superficial about the sweet tone of her voice. "I must have giving you the wrong injection. I'm sorry Matron, but... aww you have such a beautiful daughter. What are you naming her?"

I haven't even thought of having a child. Let alone name one. But there was something not right with Minerva. She was hiding something from me. She looked as if she was about to drop it into the river. A small flame peeped out of the bag. As soon as I saw it flickering around in the bad, I knew it was Little-Wit.

"Minerva … what are you doing to Little-Wit?"

Her sweetness melted away to reveal a spiteful ghost. "I'm sick of Little-Wit getting all of my father's attention. He's never noticed me..."

"And do you think drowning Little-Wit is going to make him respect you?"

"If it makes him notice me, then so be it."

"So tell me, why did you spike my vaccine?"

"If I killed my sister and created a new one, we could start all over again. We could be a real family."

"That was Spiritomb's sperm?"

Minerva nodded.

My stomach churned. I think I could have easily died right there. Come on Matron, I said to myself. Pull yourself together. I've got to safe Little-Wit before another disaster happens. "Bring me Little-Wit," I requested in my most sincere voice.

Minerva dragged the bag containing Little-Wit over to my feet. "I think you should also talk to your father. He'll need you right now."

Minerva cradled Little-Wit in her arms and released tears of guilt. There was so much the two needed to say to each other, but it was not my place to tell her for him. It needed to come from himself.


	12. Nurse Joy's Secret

Nurse Joy claimed to have found the story about my trip amusing. She said it would have been wise to spend some time with my daughter. She kept the staff room out of bounds, so Spiritomb's family and his trainer could have this family talk that I suggested. I was hoping I'd be on duty, but Nurse Joy insisted that I joined in. Listening to Spiritomb's family affairs didn't seem right to be. Nurse Joy was vacant as if she was invisible and we both looked out of place.   
  
Little-Wit cried next to her father. She remembered the bag floating games with Minerva when they were young. But on that occasion, Little-Wit got hit by Minerva's hypnosis, so when she was slipped into the bag, she had no idea what was going on. When someone questioned her about it, Minerva told everyone that Little-Wit was sick so she was taking her to bed. She just managed to escape everyone when she was near the edge.   
  
Spiritomb forced himself to smile. He told Little-Wit that everything was going to be fine and that he wouldn't let anyone harm her again. But it all seemed a little fake. He looked as if he wanted to cry.  
  
He tried to act as if he wasn't surprised about the child. He sounded as if he was expecting it to be his and tried to tell us that Minerva had a disgusting sense of humour. Although judging by what happened last night, Minerva wasn't laughing. He must have been horrified too, but couldn't bring himself to inflict pain against his own children.   
  
He knew he was losing touch with reality, but he wanted to keep strong for his children.   
  
Looking back, I think I could have handled things much better than I did. I couldn't stop thinking about my daughter, but I could have at least been a lot more compassionate. We all agreed to call my daughter Lavender after the town she was born in. Lavender was adorable. I really had to get back to work, but I couldn't help but stare at Lavender's chirpy face.  
  
“You could always release Minerva,” Nurse Joy suggested to Agatha. “The stress from working at the home and her personal life is obviously getting to her.”  
  
“It sounds tempting,” Agatha bitterly admitted. “I don't want to let her go. Minerva needs help. I must have made some mistakes somewhere along the line.”  
  
“If you release her now we can give her the help,” Nurse Joy persisted. “Once we feel she's in a good state of mind, we can take her to the GTS. She'll be in a loving home in no time.”  
  
Before Agatha got a chance to speak, I said, “Have a think about it.” It was rude of me, but I don't think Agatha should just release Minerva on the spot and then regret it later. I've met many trainers who released pokémon regret it. Releasing Minerva would not only effect you, but it will also effect all your pokémon who've befriended her over the years.”  
  
“Matron,” Nurse Joy said. “I was wondering if could I have a word with you in the office?”  
  
“Sure,” I said. “What's it about? Can't it be discussed here?”  
  
“It's not related to this meeting,” Nurse Joy replied. She seemed defeated. “It's confidential.” She stood up and looked at Agatha. “I'm sorry for leaving early, but if it's something urgent. Give us a call if you need our assistance.”  
  
Nurse Joy and I left Agatha with the shaken family and retreated down to the office. The desk was actually tidy. The computer wasn't decorated with paper notes on the wool and all of the cabinets were protected with key-locks. I was left amazed. I had never seen Nurse Joy's office so tidy unless there was an inspection. The hospital wasn't due for another inspection until October, but I think these people will come in whenever it suits them.  
  
“You must have been working hard while I was away.”  
  
Nurse Joy chuckled. “Well it's not been the same without you and Spiritomb, but we managed.”  
  
“So you brought me here to show you what you've been up to while I was away?”  
  
“Not quite.” Nurse Joy frowned and sat down on her desk. “I've been hiding something for a long time. You're the only one here who I can tell.”  
  
“A secret?” I was expecting this was going to be a murder confession or maybe it's something petty as an affair in her personal life. After Minerva's attempt of trying to kill her sister, I felt as if I lost some of my faith in society. Speaking of which, I've never heard Nurse Joy mention her personal life that much. She always became reserved whenever someone asked her. I guess I'll finally get to know.   
  
“It's important you don't let anyone from higher management know about this,” Nurse Joy whispered. I gulped, then nodded. I just knew that this was going to be no laughing matter, whatever it was Nurse Joy wanted to say.   
  
“I know that you used to work for Team Rocket, so I hope this doesn’t come as too much of a shock.”  
  
I blinked, Did I hear that right? Human resources assured me that no one would know that I worked in one of Team Rocket's clinics. “How did you know?”  
  
“I've known you since you were a chansey.”  
  
“But I was a Blissey when I joined the hospital.” I raised my eyebrow and found myself in a state of confusion. I had a feeling I knew where this was going, but I still found it weird.   
  
“Matron,” Nurse Joy hissed. “It's me... Domino.” The Nurse Joy removed her hat. Her pink wig attached fell off in the process to reveal locks of curly blond hair. I was nearly there. When she mentioned my past so bluntly like that, I had a feeling that Nurse Joy must have worked for Team Rocket at some point. I always thought that this Nurse Joy reminded me of someone, but I never thought that she could have been Domino.   
  
She was my original trainer's best friend until Smogon University. The pair of them broke contact with each other, but while I was working in Kanto, Domino was one of my regular patients. She started off as one of their grunts and eventually went up to becoming an elite officer.   
  
“So why are you telling me this now?” I asked. Domino could have told me this a long time ago, but I guess she wasn't sure when the right moment would be.   
  
“Because the boss is here,” Domino responded. “He knows we're both here.”  
  
“You still work for him?” I asked. Even though Red defeated Team Rocket, they still hadn't completely finished. Even when Giovanni disappeared, the executives had worked together to bring him back. Of course some of the old workers for Team Rocket went on to join other teams like Galactic, Magma, Aqua and Plasma, but none of them ever had as much of a strong following than Team Rocket.   
  
“I've always worked for Team Rocket,” Domino confessed. “I love what they do. I know we haven't got as much members as we used to, but we're slowly getting the numbers back. Matron, I'm earning tons of money. Working in the hospital has given me a stable wage, but the money I get from Team Rocket... now that's just an epic bonus.”  
  
“You've not given any of our staff any Action Replay pills have you?” I sighed, lowered my head and frowned. Humans and their money...   
  
“Of course I haven't,” Domino replied. She laughed as she clapped her hands. “That would have blown my cover completely.”  
  
“So how did you get this job as a Nurse Joy?” I asked. “You would have needed a lot of qualifications for your role.”  
  
“I forged them,” Domino replied in the most blunt and careless voice. She spoke of it as if it was no big deal. She no longer sounded like a Nurse Joy any more.  
  
“You could have been arrested by now,” I gasped. “If anybody finds out about this, it could ruin the reputation of our hospital.”  
  
“You won't have to worry about a thing.” Domino grabbed onto my arms and tried to reassure me with a hug. She snatched her wig and hat from the table and slumped it on her head. I carefully pinned her hair under the wig so it kept Domino's identity concealed. “Matron, how would you feel about me being your trainer?”  
  
“I don't think it will be necessary,” I admitted. We see each other nearly everyday and she's pretty much my manager.   
  
“It would be great,” Domino claimed. “I'll get a top up on my income and Lavender will have a very happy life.”  
  
“If I'm going to have someone be my trainer, then I want them to love me. Not just use me for their own desires.”  
  
“You'll still get to work in the hospital, just things will be a little more easier.”  
  
You know that somebody is a bad liar when they tell you working at a hospital will be easy. If things were so easy, then it wouldn't be so rewarding.   
  
“Have a think about it,” Domino requested. “I want you to go to room 8. Giovanni and Persian are expecting you. Oh and take this first aid kit with you.” Domino gave me a green box with a white cross on it. I opened up the kit to check if there wasn't any illegal drugs in there. I felt that I couldn't trust Domino right now.   
  
“So...” I tried to pick up the conversation. “What happened to the gardevoir?”  
  
“Which gardevoir?”  
  
“The one that was a prostitute.”   
  
“She went on a life support machine, but it wasn't enough.”  
  
“Poor thing,” I said.   
  
“Horrible way to die,” Domino muttered. “I'm a member of Team Rocket and I wouldn't dare touch a pokémon in a sexual way like that.”  
  
“You lot look like saints next to poképhiles.”  
  
“What do you mean 'you lot'? You never got sacked or resigned from Team Rocket, so you're technically still one of us. You're one of the best pokémon we ever had.” Even though Domino was trying to be nice to me, I was still personally offended that she would say something like that. It was as if she was trying to say that I was one of the best criminals around. “There were many times we should have listened to you,” Domino pointed out. “Like the time when all of Mew's children died before they were even born. Only two of Mew's children survived.”  
  
“We can't tell Giovanni about Swiss,” I snapped. “Mew and Swiss are in danger. They need to be transported to another hospital at once.”  
  
“I don't think Giovanni will have much interest in Mew and Swiss right now...”  
  
“Domino... Giovanni loves collecting rare hybrid pokémon. Mew and Swiss are just the kind of creatures he loves.”  
  
“Matron, Persian is sick. Seriously, he needs that medication now!”  
  
“What's wrong with him?”  
  
“Some weird dude with green hair and a cap brought Persian into the hospital,” Domino explained. “He said he stole it because he thought it was what was best for Persian. Apparently it's the holy Arceus' will. The guy disappeared. On the healing machine, Giovanni's trainer details popped up on the screen... the most important thing is now that Persian gets better and that he's back with Giovanni. So you better be quick.”  
  
Domino made it look as if it was a life or death situation. Persian was Giovanni's cherished pet. He would have sent someone else on his behalf if it was any of the pokémon he used for battling. If Persian really is in a critical condition, then she's at risk of losing the respect of her Team Rocket peers. Many of Team Rocket worshipped Giovanni like a god.   
  
I found it ironic that Giovanni's Persian was in room 8. Team Rocket's original hideout was in the eighth Kanto gym in Viridian City.   
  
Then I thought about Minerva and Lavender. Right now, Minerva would be much better off with Agatha. I'm beginning to suspect that Domino was involved with Lavender's birth too. A pokémon wouldn't have been able to have performed an artificial insemination by herself. A nursing home wouldn't store fertility drugs. Someone must have trained her to specifically perform artificial inseminations. I think that there's a great chance that person could be Domino. I forgot to ask Domino about it, but why was she so eager for Minerva to go to the GTS? Either she's trying to hand Minerva to Giovanni, or she's trying to keep things as quiet. Either way, I can't think about it now: Giovanni and Persian were expecting me.   
  
When I marched into room 8 with the first aid kid, the first thing I saw was Persian hustling around the bed. His tail was trapped in a ball of wool and his nose was buried in a pillow. He appeared to be blushing. From the distance it didn't sound like anything serious, but I had to check him out.   
  
Just as Domino said, Giovanni was there, with a bottle of brandy. Alcohol of any kind was not the be consumed anywhere in the hospital, let alone near a patient. Giovanni thought that he was immune to the rules; well not when I'm in charge.   
  
Giovanni was the last person I wanted to talk to, but since he's Persian's trainer, I've got no choice in the matter.   
  
“You do know that alcohol is banned from the premises?” I asked Giovanni.   
  
“Oh, I'm sorry,” Giovanni said. He ignored me and drank it anyway. “You're here to cure Persian, am I right?” I nodded and marched closer to Persian. Persian didn't speak, but he purred and licked my arm. “He's just had some catnip so he's in a playful mood.”  
  
“Nothing illegal in the catnip I hope.”  
  
I opened up the first aid kit again and found a screen at the bottom of the box. It was a slim screen that would scan for any drug caused illnesses. It's been proven to be accurate in most cases. The medical term for the screen was Hozucheck. It was named after the man who invented it in Pokécommunity College. The Hozucheck scans the body and can be used to detect the Hacked Syndrome very quickly. The GTS uses the machines as well as the hospitals. After scanning, the screen will change colour.   
  
It was the colour red we had to look out for. One red dot means that Persian has the Hacked Syndrome and would need to be operated on before he develops bad eggs. Amber meant inconclusive, which means we would need to examine him further whilst green means clean.   
  
I hoped that Persian would be green, but I doubted it. The Hozucheck was plugged in, and I was ready to scan Persian.   
  
“I'll need you to say still for a moment,” I asked Persian. He smiled and closed his eyes.   
  
I walked up and down with the Hozucheck and hovered it over Persian so it could scan all of his body. Within a minute, the Hozucheck pinged, which meant it was ready to reveal it's analysis. I pressed the enter button and the screen was completely green.   
  
“You look happy,” Giovanni commented. “Does that mean Persian will be safe?”  
  
“The Hozucheck screen is 100% green,” I announced. I couldn't believe this myself. I was expecting it to be a mixture of all sorts of colours including red. “This means that we can rule out the Hacked Syndrome.” I've never seen the Hozucheck so green in my life. It's a sign that the pokémon is living a healthy and active lifestyle free from illegal substances. Giovanni must have looked after Persian well.   
  
“So my Persian is very healthy,” Giovanni presumed with pride. “The bellossom nurse said that everything was fine other than his fever.”  
  
“I'm going to check his temperature again,” I told Giovanni as I got the thermometer out. I stroked Persian's head until he woke up. He enjoyed the fussing. “Okay Persian, I need you to put this in your mouth. I'm going to check your temperature.”  
  
The glass tube fitted into his mouth perfectly, but he frowned. I don't think he liked the sharp coldness on his tongue. He sneezed not so long after I removed the thermometer. I'd say his temperature was around 34.9 Celsius, which was roughly the equivalent to 103 Fahrenheit.   
  
“Persian's just above the average temperature,” I told Giovanni. “I think he'll be better soon. The fever might have been caused by trauma or an infection. The medication I'm about to give him should fight any infection left.” I cleaned the thermometer and then handed Persian two brightly coloured pills. The yellow one was paracetamol whilst the green one was a full restore in a pill form.   
  
Persian licked the pills from off my hand, and then walked over to the silver bowl near Giovanni's foot. He gulped what was left in the bowl, then Persian looked at me with big eyes.   
  
“Was that nice Persian?” I asked. Persian purred and nodded at the same time. I took Persian's bowl and filled it up. Persian crawled over to Giovanni and lifted his head ready to be stroked.   
  
“They can knock us down as many times as they want,” Giovanni said out of the blue. “But you know more than anybody here that Team Rocket will always bounce back.”  
  
“And what if I were to ring the police and tell them where you are?”  
  
Giovanni chuckled as he finished his drink. “The Data Protection Act says that you must preserve confidentiality. You wouldn't go and do a thing like that, now, would you Matron?”  
  
Maybe I could and maybe I couldn't.   
  
If I reported Giovanni to the police, it meant that I would break my work contract. Domino would lose her job. Justice would be served, but that wouldn't take the paranoia away. On the other hand, if I let Giovanni stay, I'd put everyone in danger whilst they carry on with their day-to-day lives. On the plus side, though I'd be keeping to the work's contract and Domino would still have a job.   
  
The hospital's reputation was at stake, but both choices sound as equally as bad as each other.


	13. Butch's Shuckle

  
It was another long day at work. The hospital seemed to be a lot colder than usual. I'm not sure if it was just me, but my hands were freezing in the morning. The first thing I noticed when I entered the staff room was Domino's face overloaded with make-up. Nurse Joys are permitted to wear makeup, but they look so much better without hideous blue eye-shadow and scarlet lips.  
  
After discovering the truth about Domino, I could no longer call her Nurse Joy. She's a member of Team Rocket in disguise. She found it much easier to keep everything to herself, she said it was simpler that way. I'm still not sure if I could trust her enough to be my trainer. I've spent many years without a trainer, and I'm confident enough to spend a few more without a trainer.  
  
As soon as my shift started, I left the staff room and made my way through the corridor that lead to the A&E ward. It was time for me to make my rounds. Checking each ward to see if the patients were happy. I personally find the rounds a little bit boring. I don't like going into the human wards either: they're full of drunk people.  
  
Just as I was about to enter the A&E ward, Domino approached me. "I want you to help me out with this patient."  
  
"Okay, what's the problem?"  
  
"Shuckle's trainer works for Team Rocket," Domino told me. She faintly smiled then turned to face her watch. "I must ask you not to be judgmental."  
  
I found it strange that it was coming from the most judgmental woman I had ever met. I already knew that I shouldn't hold any judgement against patients and visitors. It doesn't matter if they were a murderer or a teacher. Patients were patients and we had to treat them. Does she remember what we treated Giovanni's Persian yesterday?  
  
"So what's ?"  
  
"Shuckle has been shot in the shell."  
  
"Take me to him." It could have been serious. Shuckles, like any pure rock pokémon they have great defences, but their health points. If the shell has permanent damage then Shuckle should no longer be allowed to battle. I need to have a look at him.  
  
"I think he might need an operation," Domino told me while she lead me to Shuckle's room. "The healing machine keeps saying he's got the hacked syndrome. I checked the hozuchecker and it was all green."  
  
"Did he have any signs and symptoms that might have triggered a misdiagnosis?" I asked. When a shuckle has the hacked syndrome, we'd be looking for signs such as a soft shells and wonky legs. "Can he walk? Is his shell soft? Does it feel gooey when you touch it?"  
  
"He seemed to be just like any other shuckle apart from the fact that there's a crack in his shell."  
  
"So he can walk fine and his shell is still hard?"  
  
Domino faintly nodded. That wasn't particularly helpful, but she's not a real nurse so it's understandable. When I entered the room I instantly recognized him as a member of team rocket. He wasn't even wearing their uniform. He was wearing some lose jeans and a white buttoned up shirt. "Good morning," I said to him. "Are you Shuckle's trainer?"  
  
"That's me," the man replied. How could I forget that husky voice and short temper. He always snapped at other people because they kept on getting his name wrong. Maybe there's something iffy about the trainer's information. I know many patients have been misdiagnosed with the hacked syndrome because the trainer ID is invalid, blacklisted or inconsistent with the data chipped in a pokémon.  
  
"Can I have a look at your trainer card?" I asked.  
  
"Sure," the man said. He pulled a reluctant grin on his face as he dug into his pocket. "I know for a fact that my shuckle is healthy."  
  
"Thank you," I responded as soon as he gave me his card. From a quick glance there didn't seem to be anything wrong with the trainer card, apart from the name. I know when the machine scans swear words from the microchip that it can cause the healing machine to mess up. I returned the back to him. "There appears to be a problem with your trainer card Sir, " I told the man.  
  
The man chuckled. "There is a typo on the trainer card, the I is meant to be a U."  
  
"When pokémon are taken to the healing machine they also scan their microchips," I explained to Butch.  
  
"Shuckle's never been chipped!" Butch roared.  
  
"Nothing to worry about," Domino told him. "Uhm... carry on, Matron."  
  
"When pokémon are caught, the ball gives them an automatic chip. With those microchips we can view most of the pokémon's data. With these chips, trainers can see the pokémon's gender, nature, stats, ability and health."  
  
"Amazing what technology can do huh?" Butch said. "I didn't know half this stuff." He chuckled and patted Shuckle on the head. "I think you're going to be just fine."  
  
"Okay Butch. Which region did you come from?"  
  
"Kanto."  
  
"After your Shuckle's healed, I suggest that you need to go back to Kanto and issue a new trainer card. And I do apologize for any distress caused from my colleague's misdiagnosis."  
  
"What about Shuckle?"  
  
"There were no signs of hemorrhages and any subsequent injury has been cured in the machine. We will have to operate on him to remove the bullet. It's a very safe operation, but we will have to remove part of the shell. But we cannot do this without your written permission. Joy will pass you a consent forum and once it's been signed, we'll book him to theatre for three o'clock."  
  
Butch frowned. "How long will it take for Shuckle to recover?"  
  
"If the operation is successful then it will take between five weeks."  
  
"And if it's not?  
  
"It depends of what your idea of successful operation is," Domino interrupted.  
  
"I mean what if he doesn't make it?  
  
"Operations like this has an outstanding survival rate," I assured Butch. "Rock types can quickly recover from these sorts of operations. Now Mr..."  
  
"THE NAME IS BUTCH! IT CLEARLY SAYS IT ON THE TRAINER CARD!"  
  
"I'll go get a consent form." Domino tip-toed out of the room. Shuckle looked just as confused as me.  
  
After a brief moment of silence Butch asked me, "So what you saying?"  
  
"I was saying that the operation would be beneficial to prevent the risk of infection. And after the operation I would say that Shuckle should refrain from competitive activity such as contests and battles until he gets the all clear."  
  
"It's for your own good Shuckle," Butch said as he saw his pokémon sulk. "I don't like it either."  
  
"Well have a little chat with Shuckle and Joy will be with you shortly," I said. Shuckle and Butch waited for Domino and the consent form as I left the room to continue my rounds.


	14. A Sad Eevee

> The next patient I had to deal with was a distraught eevee named Everest. His trainer had left the hospital to pick up an egg from a day care centre. The trainer didn't say which one, but I'm guessing it's in Solaceon Town. That's the nearest one to Hearthome City. Hopefully she'll be back soon. Whilst Everest was healed of the physical cuts from the machine, Domino decided that Everest needed to stay for 24 hours. I think it was a good idea, Everest's trainer seemed to be one of those trainers who throw themselves into a battle as soon as their team is healed.
> 
> Everest mentioned before that he would have regular aches in the head and stomach that would stop him from resting. His trainer said that he was very overprotective and often get mood-swings. She also mentioned something about diarrhoea and fear that he would be released back into the wild.
> 
> Some patients tell me all sorts of things that happen while their trainer is away, whilst others remain quiet. A pokémon has no reason to lie, so I assume they're always telling the truth. Everest was one of the quiet ones, crawling into his bed to cry his eyes out.
> 
> I took one corner of the quilt and flipped it over. Everest began to run under the pillow. I looked at him under the pillow. I couldn't see his face because he was trying to wipe his tears with his tail.
> 
> "What's wrong Everest?" I asked.
> 
> "Why does everybody want me to change?" Everest sobbed. "They say I won't ever be able to impress Dahlia if I don't evolve."
> 
> Everest sounded so sweet and well spoken. I know how he feels, many eevees are stuck on what they want to evolve into, and there are some occasions where trainers evolved their eevee into something they didn't want to evolve into and that can cause some serious friction between that pokémon and the trainer. One mayor in Kanto was dismissed for abandoning a bulbasaur for not evolving.
> 
> "Who's Dahlia?"
> 
> "She was my childhood sweetheart when she was a skitty. When she evolved into a delcatty, Ruth took her to a day care centre for breeding. Dahlia's got lots of children now."
> 
> "Is Ruth your trainer?"
> 
> Everest nodded. "Dahlia is very strong and I'm very weak. Ruth tried to train me, but I wasn't good enough. I kept on fainting all the time. Ruth's left me now hasn't she?"
> 
> "Ruth said she was collecting an egg," I said. "She should be back shortly." I personally had no idea when Ruth would be back, but I had to try and give Everest some positive things. He started to remove his tail away from his eyes and stopped crying.
> 
> "I think Dahlia is happy with those partners..."
> 
> I just wanted to hug Everest so hard. The media is terrible at promoting favouritism and violence. I remember when I was working in Kanto there was lots of advertisements for Action Replay pills and even articles on how to make your own drugs. I swear the media drives people to illness sometimes.
> 
> Pokémon need rest after a battle. They need time to recover and some people go to pokémon centres to make it quick and easy. But that healing machine can only heal physical pain. It won't do a thing to depression or any other emotional trauma.
> 
> "When was the last time you've seen Dahlia then?"
> 
> "Not since she went to the centre," Everest replied. "I think that was about a month ago." A lady walked into the room. If was Everest's trainer, Ruth. She came back with a delcatty and a lot of eggs in her hand. Everest's eyes lit up as soon as he saw the delcatty. As the delcatty jumped on the bed, Everest hopped over to hug her. "DAHLIA!"
> 
> "So how has Everest gotten on?" Ruth asked.
> 
> "I am diagnosing him with PTSD," I told Ruth. "He has the common symptoms."
> 
> Ruth was gob-smacked. She almost dropped her eggs as her legs collided on the floor. "PTSD?"
> 
> "Post-traumatic Stress Disorder," I explained.
> 
> "So what will happen?" Ruth asked.
> 
> "We'll need to monitor Everest quite closely. We'll need to get rid of anything that might provoke Everest's trauma. We may have to prescribe antidepressants."
> 
> "This sounds serious," Ruth admitted. "So did you find out what kind of thing provoked it's trauma?"
> 
> "I've had a chat to Everest," I replied. "It seems Everest dose not enjoy battles very much. It might have made him reminded him of something devastating from the past. It also seems that seeing it's evolved forms causes Everest to go into a depression."
> 
> "Oh no," Ruth said. She slapped herself on the cheek. "I've been pressuring him to evolve into an espeon. I've always wanted one... Oh Everest I'm so sorry, I didn't know I was giving you pain."
> 
> Everest wasn't paying attention. He and Dahlia snuggled on top of the bed. The two of them were communicating well with each other. Ruth didn't understand what Everest and Dahlia were saying, but I could. She asked for my translations and when she found out what they where saying, she didn't feel so guilty.
> 
> "I don't want to evolve," Everest whispered into Dahlia's ear.
> 
> "Well I love you just the way you are," Dahlia responded as she licked Everest's ear.
> 
> I left the room with a smile on my face. I felt good about myself. I managed to make my patient happy.


	15. Alder's Death

The only thing Spiritomb said to me this morning was that Alder had only a few hours to live. Everybody knew Alder as one of the old champions of Unova. Spiritomb went on about it as if it was a playground attraction. Of course it would have made much more sense if Alder was in a hospital in Unova, since that was where it was from, but Unova was suffering with an epidemic of MRSA. So to protect Alder from getting the disease he was moved to this hospital.

But I don't think that the epidemic was the only reason he was transferred here. This time last month, Alder was in a nursing home that was closed down. Marshall told me that he was appalled by the dark lighting and high level of abuse. None of the care assistants were properly trained and poison types were in the kitchen and also doing personal care. Poison-types should not be doing any kind of personal care because that would make the patients much more contaminated.

We've had poison-types work in the hospital, but they could not do personal care, nor where they allowed to deal with food. If a patient was a poison-type, only senior nurses and steel-type staff should be allowed near them. It sounds harsh, but it's a scientific fact that poison types are most likely to spread infection faster than any other type.

I could only look at Alder and see that he has been abused. Not from the bruises on his arm, but from the way his bones were sticking out. His frail and skinny frame took me back to when I once watched an interview with him last year. I can remember his big fiery hair and big muscles made him look young for his age. Only neglect could have made him lose a dramatic amount of weight. His mouth couldn't even move properly as it was not used to food. Monica, a bellossom nurse fed him, taking a long two hours for Alder to finish his bowl, and it must have been heartbreaking for him. It must have been the only good meal he's had since being admitted to the home.

Judging from what I observed, it looked as if Alder knew his time to go was on its way. In the staff room the chanseys told Domino and myself that Alder had been kissing a picture of his late volcarona and croaked, "It won't be long until we meet again." Those words must have left a burning mark in their heads. They're so used to people begging to save patients' lives, by the time it's time for a patient to die they feel as if they've failed a task.

Old age can be a lonely era for humans because they lose so much and realize how much they had in their youth. I remember the last time I saw Alder in person was when he was carrying his baby grandson in his arms. He looked so happy back then, just as he tried to be on that plain white bed. I was left with alone with Alder. I was told by Domino to keep a close eye on him, and I found myself in the rare position of having nothing much to do. I swayed my eyes against the blue walls and how the white bed and ginger hair made a striking contrast.

Alder raised his eyebrow and his arm slipped out of the bed. "Matron..." I stepped closer and reached my arm out. He wrapped my arm around his index finger. With his shrinking eyes he told me that he didn't have very long to live. He didn't have a worried look on his face at all. "Do you think my grandson will be coming?"

"I'm sure he is on his way," I assured him.

"I've forgotten his name," Alder croaked. "If only I could see him just for a moment, then his name will come to me." Benga was spitting image of his grandfather in his youth. Just as I was about to speak, Alder gently poked me. "Don't tell me his name," Alder requested. "I can't even remember the names of my family either. Maybe they will come to me too."

Alder's forgetfulness and declines in health were solid signs of the Alzheimer disease. I felt that I had the evidence to diagnose him with that kind of dementia. Why didn't the poor man get the support he needed. I really believed that if he hadn't had gone through such horrific abuse that he could have still had a chance of surviving a little longer. I wanted to say that I could cure him, but there was no current cure for dementia.

It wasn't long until Benga finally arrived to the hospital. He looked bewildered and his eyes were wet. The poor child, Alder wouldn't want him to become a burden. As soon as he entered the room, his legs froze. He wept and shook his shoulders.

"How is he?" Benga asked.

"He is dying," I confirmed. "We are trying to make the final hours of his life as comfortable as we can."

Benga was silent and scurried to Alder's lap. He held onto Alder's hand and their eyes never left each other. Benga's mouth trembled as if he was trying to find the words to speak but they were stuck in his throat.

"Benga..." Alder croaked.

"Yes," Benga cried.

"Of course," Alder muttered. "That is your name. I remember now."

Alder closed his eyes for the very last time. I looked up at the watch and said, "Time of death 19:48."

Benga's upper body jumped on the bed as he held onto his grandfather's shoulder. I hopped over to Benga and rubbed his back. He buried himself on Alder's chest and wailed without letting go of his grandfather. It was the end of Alder's suffering, but the beginning of Benga's grief.


	16. A Boy Was Born

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was written for my friend Aurareader, and I was his Secret Santa over at advancers (an advanceshipping forum). He's a great fan of Carry On, Blissey so when I found out I got him, I decided to make this chapter dedicated to him. It was going to be just a stand alone but I thought it didn't make much sense as a stand alone.

I've heard at least eight trainers a day say it. They always seem astonished when they see Kadabra teleport from place to place or surprised to see a pack of rodents run across the wards wearing nursing hats and jackets. They did not expect other pokémon working for the hospital apart from chanseys, blisseys and audinos.

When it comes down to it, most trainers don't really care who gives them treatment as long as their teams get healed. At the same time, they expect far too much from us. The healing machine can't heal every disease nor can it bring anyone back to life. Though I must confess that I do think that working in the human wards can be extremely frustrating. The healing does nothing for humans.

Domino made me do training in midwifery. She said that I should consider it as an apprenticeship of some sorts. Midwifery was one of the units at Smogon University. Midwifery for humans was mentioned briefly, but luckily for us, the trainers had to do the written work for us. I've helped human midwives deliver the baby before, but doing it on my own makes me nervous.

I don't want to show I'm nervous. Usually I'll have somebody with me when a girl is in labour, but Domino and the rest of the higher staff in the hospital believe that I can do it on my own. I'm flattered that they can trust me enough as a senior nurse with independence, but I'm only Matron Blissey. I can't solve all the hospital's problems on my own.

I know that they're all only human, but the policies clearly state that pokémon should always be supervised by human staff during labour. This is a serious violation and if I mess up, I'd have no one to help me and also the mother and the baby could be in fatal danger.

The lady was holding onto her boyfriend's hand. Her boyfriend looked a lot like Red, only that he was a smaller in height. You could call him Red's Mini-Me. Strangely enough the lady in labour could also be young doppelgänger of Sapphire, a trainer I know from Hoenn. I don't believe that Red and Sapphire have never met but their influence is undeniable.

It's nice to have a baby born for Christmas, it's a lovely way to spent the holidays. I don't really get the time to celebrate Christmas because it's such a busy time of the year. It's a really crazy time at the hospital too. Nobody wants to spent their Christmas in the hospital and not many of them like hospital food. Our chef, Swampy gave the patients black custard and chips for pudding.

There's a lot of contests that happen on Boxing Day. They want to use all their lovely Christmas leftovers and use them to impress the judges. I personally find beauty pageants like this boring, but they're a lot better than the beauty pageants for toddlers under five. But I honestly believe that contests and beauty pageants promote it paedophilia and poképhilia. They're living creatures: not sex toys!

Though I have to be really careful not to say my thoughts out loud. The girl is a pokémon co-ordinator and makes her pokémon enter contests for a living. I have to treat them just how I would treat any other of my patients. I don't think the lady will be entering any contests until the New Year.

The girl's name was May and she had been in labour for two hours. Her boyfriend stood in the middle of the room with a pikachu on it's head. I think he said his name was Ash. I couldn't tell because his voice was muffled with all the bacon in his mouth. He looked pale as he blocked his ears from the screaming. Poor blessed children. Domino said that May was only sixteen. When I heard about May's age, I remembered an old patient, Mr. Fierce complaining about a program called 16 & Pregnant.

"I shouldn't have to watch this rubbish!" Mr. Fierce cried out. I let Mr. Fierce choose a channel that he wanted on and ended up being happy with the discovery channel. There are times when I miss my patients, but at the same time I'm happy when they leave because I hope they will either have a happy life or that it will get back to normal. For patients like Mr. Fierce, things will never be the same, but he can still enjoy life.

Other chanseys came into the room just in time for May's active phase of labour. The chanseys and I can do as much as we can to support the mother and the child, but it's really May and her child that are doing all the hard work. But we have to be on guard, now that her amniotic sac's ruptured, the child is more exposed to infection if the delivery is not safe.

We could all be here for up to 12 hours, but I can't be too sure about that. It may depend on how strong May's contractions are. I had been with Ash and May for a while now. Midwifery isn't just about the babies, it's about caring for the mother right through to the very end of the pregnancy. There are some things that I disagree with iun terms of her lifestyle, but I have to take it as it is.

My attention was drawn over to the young man who tiptoed behind the chanseys. He treaded carefully as if he was in a forbidden forest lurking with death traps. Bringing a child in the world is meant to be one of the most proudest experiences a human could ever have, but that doesn't mean that they'll be any less scared.

"What did you say your name was?" I asked the lad.

"Ash," he mumbled.

"How long have you known May for?"

"At least five years," he said, then gulped. Well, it could have been worse. At least the mother knew the father. There are some young mothers who don't even know their own baby's dad.

"I know you're nervous," I told Ash, "But you have to support May and your child in every way possible. This child change your life forever."

It seemed that Ash returned to his senses and held onto May's hand. The rest of the birth was pretty much average and later in the early hours in the morning May delivered a healthy son. The young couple looked really happy. There was no denying that their smiles lit up the room.

The hospital wasn't the best place to spend Christmas, but they did make the most of it.


	17. Staff Meeting

I should be out there helping patients. Not loafing around on a chair with other members of staff. Domino decided to have the day off, so I had to attend a meeting in her place. It was mainly the human senior management with their dull suits and fancy shoes. The chunky man in the corner of the room needs to straighten up his lilac tie. The man next to him could do with a decent meal and smaller clothes. The lady sitting next to me needs to wash that crap off her face.

"I want to thank you all for attending this meeting," the skinny man said. "Unfortunately, Nurse Joy can't make it this afternoon so we have Matron Blissey instead."

"So what is this meeting about?" I asked. "Nurse Joy was so busy, she never really got to explain it to me."

"That's okay," the skinny man said again as his head bowed over his knees. "I'm Hank, the assistant manager and this is Arthur, our area manager. Now we're about to discuss some new findings following a research project down in Orre."

"For many years we've been wondering why female nidorans lose their fertility after evolution," Hank announced. "And it seems we finally know what it is."

"Do you know about the Polycystic Ovary Syndrome?"

"Women can have that," I said. "It leads to all sort of problems for women who have it."

"We believe that female nidorans also have PCOS," Arthur announced. He picked up the board against his leg and held it towards his chest. "These pictures show the reproductive system of a nidorina and a nidoqueen. As you can see the ovaries have a lot of cysts and these can lead to infertility, and that's why nidorina and nidoqueen can't breed."

"This makes a lot of sense," one of the ladies said as her peers gasped in unison. I don't see what's so mind-blowing about it, I already had a feeling that would be why female nidorans lose their fertility as soon as they evolve. Well, at least the humans found something educating. I think that it will probably break the news and there will be less nidorina and nidoqueens about.

The meeting was interrupted by a loud scream. It sounded as if it was coming from Domino's office. It sounded like the cry of a woman who had lost their child. The screams continued, and it grated my ears. I hopped off the chair and bowed at the men. "Excuse me," I said. "It's been nice meeting you, but I must go and see what's going on in Nurse Joy's office."

"That sound is from her office?" Hank asked. Arthur and their peers rose from their seats.

"It is," I said.

"Oh dear," Hank said. "I hope she is okay."

"PHIONE!" I followed the sound of Domino's cries and as I did, I began to decode what Domino was yelling. It was a state of emergancy, and I didn't have time to tell the higher management to stop following me. I opened the door to Domino's office and as the doors slammed open, her crying stopped. Unlike Domino's medical qualifications, her distress was real.

"Nurse Joy!" Hank gasped. "What is wrong with your hands."

"I couldn't save it," Domino cried. She held out her head hands and underneath all the blood was a piece of something. I scurried under the table and felt the urge to vomit. Below Domino's desk was a stillborn phione surrounded by blood and egg shells. The small corpse was badly deformed and decomposed. Poor child must have contracted the Hacked Syndrone by birth which could explain it's deflated body, and it's mangled and rotten state was proof that the egg was not stored in a safe place. The egg must have been kept in a damp area where bacteria thrives and allows pests to feast upon the poor fetus.

"What is it?" Hank asked.

"It's a stillborn phione," I announced. I gulped and swallowed both my own vomit and anger. Hank leaned over my head and rushed out of the room. He held onto his mouth and I knew he was running to the nearest bathroom to expel his sickness. I looked up to the higher management and said, "Can you get funeral directors and the appropriate paperwork please? Thank you. I will speak to Nurse Joy alone."

They all left and nodded without another word. As soon as Arthur closed the door after him, I double-slapped Domino three times and she panted at every hit. There was no holding back. I had done something that I had been wanting to do for a while.

"You killed a baby," I hissed at Domino. I glared at her as her chest protected one side of the cabinet.

"I wanted a shiny phione," Domino whimpered.

"What are you hiding in there?" My cheeks imploded and I tapped her gently in hope she would surrender.

"Nothing important."

"Well if it's nothing important, then why can't I see it?"

"It's none of your business."

"JUST LET ME IN!" I had no choice, I pushed Domino out of the way and opened the wooden door. The door spat out a nail as it hinged open. The cabinet was scattered with drugs: illegal drugs and strange concoctions along with those Instant Egg Drops. I pushed the door shut and looked down on Domino who threw herself on the ground as if she was expecting some sympathy. "I always knew that Instant Egg Drops were dangerous," I barked. "But now, I can see the true dangers of it."

"None of this would have happened if you accepted me as your master," Domino yelled. She pushed herself from the floor and her pink wig slipped off. Domino looked as if she had a hungover from a wild hen night. It seems as if I didn't slap the murderer enough. How dare she try to guilt trip me. The stillborn phione makes me even more glad that I didn't accept Domino as my trainer.

"You have gone far enough," I told Domino. "If you stay here any longer, you will kill many more of my patients." I turned my back on her. "I will turn you in and I will reveal the truth."

"NO MATRON!" Domino cried. "One more chance... please... I beg you."

Rubbish! She had plenty of chances to redeem herself and she took none of them. Every second she spent working in the wards was a chance to make herself a better person, but she chose profit over humanity. I hope I never see the wretched woman again.

"SPEAK TO ME!" I ignored her again and threw my attention to Officer Jenny who followed Hank into the room. Domino pushed herself against the wall. "What are the police doing here?" If Domino was a real nurse, she would have known that when a pokemon dies in suspicious circumstances it is the police's duty to perform a routine check.

"Nurse Joy is quite shocked," Hank explained to Officer Jenny.

"She would be," I interrupted. "She didn't expect her experiment to be such a failure."

"You stupid fat bitch!" Domino screamed out her true colours.

"I'm sorry Domino," I told her. I didn't care if there was an audience. It was time for the truth to be out in the open. "But I'm not going to stand there and let you get away with killing my patients."

"Don't tell them," Domino screamed. "Don't you dare..."

"Tell them what?" I asked with my hands on my hips. "Don't tell them that you lied about your qualifications? You don't want them to know that you're a member of Team Rocket? Or do you not want them to know that you've imported illegal drugs into the hospital." I paused and then looked up to Officer Jenny and told her in a sincere manner, "Feel free to check this office."

"With pleasure," Officer Jenny announced. She blew her whistle and the room became surrounded by speedy growlithes. Meanwhile Hank looked at Domino with a disappointed look on his face as Domino was dragged out of the hospital by Officer Jenny.


	18. Unhappy Patient

The way Domino left the hospital left such a nasty aftertaste for me. I told the truth to all the pokemon staff and told them all to carry on like a normal day. If they had a problem, they could come to me and I could sort it out. Following Domino's departure, I felt the urge to check all of her regular patients and the one one that was on the list was a wild dragonite in room 12.  
  
Three months ago he crashed into a ship, cracked his skull, broke both his wings and torn the ligaments in his wings. It didn't take him very long for him to develop a pressure ulcers because Domino told the staff not to turn Dragonite about. He was stuck in the same place for a month so no wonder he's so unhappy in hospital. He is expected to spend another six months in hospital and must undergo lots of operations. On top of that, he's on the waiting list for a liver transplant. On a good day he can be very funny, but on a bad day, he can be very rude and racist.  
  
Pressure ulcers are a very unpleasant business. There's four main stages of pressure ulcers and the healing machine can only heal stage one ulcers because it can't repair thick tissue loss or bone exposure. Which is why we have to avoid patients from getting pressure ulcers, things like making sure patients are comfortable, well nourished and making them as mobile as possible can all reduce the risks of these bed sores.  
  
"Where am I?" Dragonite asked. "I want to complain about Nurse Joy."  
  
I don't think Dragonite knows, and I'm not sure if I should say it yet. "What would you like to complain about?" I closed the blue curtains around me so that the patient could have some privacy.  
  
"I LOVE BLACK PEOPLE!" Dragonite shouted in pride. I'm sure he's a huge fan of Iris, Unova's dragon-hugging champion. "THEY TREAT YOU LIKE A MEMBER OF THE FAMILY. NOT LIKE THE WHITE TRASH LIKE SHITTY NURSE JOY!"  
  
"What did Nurse Joy do to you?" I asked. I know she doesn't like white humans very much, but that's a legal reason to complain. Being a wild pokemon, he probably doesn't understand anything about the social forms of conduct and how humans in society work.  
  
"She dumped me here," Dragonite croaked. His entire body was covered in bandages and he was trying hard to get out of them. "The medicine sucks. The food sucks. The staff are useless and the patients are disturb my sleep."  
  
"She's not here anymore," I said, thinking it would make him feel better.  
  
"Who?"  
  
"Nurse Joy no longer works for us. We will be getting a new nurse soon."  
  
"It only proves my point," Dragonite announced. "You need to stop hiring white human doctors: they're rubbish!"  
  
"I don't do the hiring, it's the Human Resources and Head Office that do all that."  
  
"IT'S A FUCKING SHITHOLE IN HERE!"  
  
"Would you like to use the litter tray?"  
  
"Where's that?"  
  
"It's under your bed." I picked up the tray from under his bed and showed it to him. Since Dragonite is a big pokemon, the tray was about half the size of his bed.  
  
"You can eat it if you want," Dragonite hissed and whipped the tray into my chest with his tail. "I don't eat rice."  
  
"This isn't rice, this gravel. For you to have number ones or twos in."  
  
"I've already got a toilet." Dragonite shook his head. "No! Take it away."  
  
I've got to document that in the care notes so the other staff can know. On the tracking sheet, I wrote the date, the time and my signature. In the space next to it I wrote;  _Refused litter tray. Litter tray has been removed by the request of the patient._  
  
"If you need to go, ring your bell and someone will help you," I told Dragonite as I took the litter tray with me out of the room. Since it is clean, I can use it for Red's Pikachu. I shouldn't really in case of cross-contamination or risks of infection control, but we've ran out of litter trays and Red's Pikachu really needs one. I'm not sure why Red brought his Pikachu to our hospital when there was one just next to the cave to Mt. Silver, but it didn't matter now.  
  
Red's Pikachu needed my help and I had to save his life. It didn't matter weather the trainer was a triple murderer or a pokemon champion.


	19. Too Much

I've literally been chasing my tail this week. On my way to Red's Pikachu, I had a Golem throwing rocks at staff to try and grab their attention. Since nobody went in to check on Golem, I slipped into his room to check how he was doing. He was in the room next to Butch's Shuckle who is about to be discharged soon. Golem frowned at his cheesecake. He was picking the berries out and wasn't attempting to touch the biscuit base. 

"MATRON!" 

"Yes."

"You call this food?" Golem asked. "What the bloody hell is it?"

"It's cheesecake."

"What have they done to all the berries?" Golem asked. Before I could reply he glared at me and said, "they fucked it up that what they've done. There was nothing wrong with these berries. Until you lot messed it about. It's far too sweet."

Behind me was Golem's catheter and just looking at it made me want to cry. How the scrambled up bags were still flowing was beyond me. Why on earth did they put a lag bag on Golem's arm? Sorry Golem, I have more important things to deal with than cheesecake. 

I walked out of Golem's room and shouted to Lucky. "Sort of this patient for me please." 

She was given me that look. No, I'm not picking on you Lucky. Nobody is jealous of you because you're a shiny. Just get on with him. I had heard that Golem had fallen several times but none of the staff could be accurate with me. Perhaps Spiritomb would know. 

Just as I was about to go to the electric ward, Spiritomb chased me down. Why they thought it was a good idea to give Spiritomb a 15 hour shift is beyond me. He clearly not in the best states of mind and I don't think he will manage to give patients the best treatment. He shouldn't be working. Whoever did the roster this week obviously had no idea about Spiritomb's hatred towards rock-types. How the rock ward managed to cope with Spiritomb in charge. 

"Why is Butch's Shuckle still here?" Spiritomb asked. Oh dear, I thought to myself, here he comes with the racists comments again.

"Because he still has another week until his shell heals up," I explained. Shuckle appears to be safe enough to go home, but we have a very important policy that competitive patients cannot be discharged unless they are in fighting state. Shuckle's recovery is coming along nicely, but he'll need to continue this for another week and then he can get back to his normal life. "Anyway I've heard Golem's had several falls."

"Only three little falls."

"This is outrageous!" I cried. But it wasn't the fact that Golem had fallen out of bed that got me pissed off, it was the way Spiritomb said it as if it was no big deal. They might seem like little falls to him, but Golem's arms are covered in bruises and blood was oozing down his shell. Three little falls was a lot of rubbish. "How did you let a patient fall out of bed three times?"

"Rock types don't need nursing," Spiritomb stated. "I'd rather have a dozen Mr. Fierces than one golem."

"I don't care what type my patients are." It didn't take much for everyone to see I was fuming. "You were in charge in that ward. This is unacceptable practice. This hospital's good reputation will be ruined, and you could be released."

Spiritomb shouldn't be working, but he shouldn't be released into the wild either. The doctors who assessed Spiritomb and his capability to work caught him on a good day. He was as good as gold. I wish they were here so they could see what he's like on a bad day. That will give them some thinking. It just proves that thirty minutes is not enough to assess someone's ability.

"Well we shouldn't waste time on patients that don't need nursing," Spiritomb hissed. I don't know what's going on. We usually work so well together, but his condition is only getting worse. "We need to go and see Red's Pikachu... fast. He needs that injection."

"Do I even need to mention Golem's catheter?"

"I asked Monica to put it on his arm," Spiritomb said. "Or else the catheter would have burst if he fell on the bed."

"Well if you bothered to put the frame on his bed, you wouldn't have that problem."

I felt sick. Red's Pikachu was critically ill and I had to have an argument with Spiritomb. I had enough. Weather Spiritomb wanted to help me or not, I barged into Pikachu's room to check on him. Red's Pikachu had been hit by a motorbike; Officer Jenny's motorbike. The police will do nothing about it. They'll say that Officer Jenny was simply doing her job chasing criminals and we'll be blamed if Pikachu dies. Pikachu got intense burns from his against a heatran in Stark Mountain last month, but he managed to heal him in five seconds. If Pikachu's condition turns stable, he could be out in five days, but that's ONLY an "if", there are no guarantees that Pikachu will live. The crash cracked his skill, and the bones in his paws have shattered. 

"Good evening Pikachu," I said. 

"Hello..."

Even though he's conscious at the moment, his blood pressure, pulse, breathing and temperature has been very inconsistent. The paramedics checked his blood pressure and each arm was on the other side of the scale. He's been bandaged up and he's got another catheter on him and the urine appears to be clear. 

"How are you?"

"Wondering when I'll find a new trainer," Pikachu said in such a small voice. "I'm only a little pichu."

I knew he would have some form of memory loss, but I didn't expect it to be this bad. Red has his palms stretched out of the window. His cape covers his eyes, but not his tears. He was pressing against the glass as if he was hoping to fall in and touch his partner. Pikachu turned around to Red and turned back to me. 

"Do you know who that boy is?"

"That's your trainer."

I could hear Red kicking the wall. When I looked up, Red had vanished. 

"You found me one?" 

"Pikachu..." I said, "Well you are a pikachu now. That man is Red. He is your trainer. You were involved in an accident so you'll be staying here until you're better. Don't worry, once Red calms down, he'll be back to see you."

"Thank you."

Pikachu closed his eyes and from a typical point of view he fell back to sleep. From a medical point of view, he was out of conscious. It's Spiritomb who's in charge on the night shifts, but I can't finish my shift now. Spiritomb is being foolish and he needs help with supporting this ward. For goodness sake, why did they let him work? Yes, Spiritomb does need the hospital, but he should be a patient, not a doctor. A healthy pokémon will always be aware of it's environment. The fact that Pikachu still thinks he's a pichu and has no idea who Red is is a sign of some serious head damage. The hippocampus in the temporal lobe of the brain must be damaged. 

I kicked the breaks off the bed and wheeled him out of the room. Mrs Swanna, one of the nurses came flying in front of me and asked, "Where are you taking Pikachu?"

"I'm taking him to the healing machine."

"What for?" Mrs Swanna asked. She was a decent nurse, but such a snooper. Her trainer's called Erik Destler who used to be a journalist for Serebii Express. He now has his own popular blog with a huge following. If Mrs Swanna knew what I knew about what spiritomb was up to, then it will be published worldwide by midnight. I'm not the one for gossip, so I'll try and avoid mentioning Spiritomb if possible. 

"The healing machine will make Pikachu more comfortable," I responded. "The storm of cells once activated will also help recover damage to his hippocampus and the rest of his brain."

"Well if you say that so bravely it means that Pikachu will be out of this hospital in no time."

"Pikachu will need more than just a healing machine," I said. "It's a palliative precaution. He'll most likely need surgery and injections."

"What's his survival rate?"

"50/50!"

"Red is one of the most powerful trainers in the world," Mrs Swanna said. "If Pikachu dies imagine how awful it would be for the hospital's reputation?"

"That will only happen if we don't do everything we can."

"I told my trainer about that Golem in the other ward," Mrs Swanna said. "He thinks it's crazy. He's going to report it. It's just shocking. It just shows that Domino's influence is still lingering strong. Can you believe it? Our own Nurse Joy perceived us."

"Have you ever heard of confidentiality?" Anybody could have heard what Mrs Swanna was saying and start to panic. The last thing this hospital needs is another scandal. I sighed, I'm not surprised one bit, but Mrs Swanna knows how to cross the fine line. Because she's not a human, she'll get away with it. It's ethically wrong, but that's the way it goes. 

We reached the reception point where the healing machine was, it was free at the moment. I wheeled Pikachu into the healing machine and lowered the lid. I pressed the button and it made that sweet little jingle. When trainers hear it, they become relieved, knowing that their beloved friends are healed. I think that's why Domino managed to get away with it for so long. The healing machine is so easy to use, and they've just installed self-service machines near the back. 

I'm quite grateful they've installed them because it means that we get more time to spend with patients who need more than a few seconds under the machine. I opened the lid and wheeled Pikachu away. He had one eye open and his breathing gave a faint breeze against my hand. Mrs. Swanna turned around and nudged me. Red had showed up again. His lips were frozen and there was no sign of him speaking anytime soon. 

"Hello Red," I said. "If you'd like to follow me, we can go through Pikachu's progress and spend some time with him."

He smiled. It's still early days for Pikachu and he won't be able to battle for at least another six months, but that's if he survives. But there's a big chance that Pikachu might not be battling again. Pikachu's body will need time to heal, and his bones need time to recover. But the healing machine did what I wanted it to do: regain Pikachu's consciousness. He'll have to be closely monitored and Red will need someone to communicate with. I know he dosen't speak very much, but there will come a time where he will have to open his mouth. 

Mrs Swanna and I were very quick, but Red managed to catch up with us and whilst we headed over to Pikachu's room. I opened a cabinet and collected an operation consent form for Red. "Okay Red, I've put Pikachu through to the healing machine to help him recover from brain damage. But the machine has not covered everything. There are still broken bones in his body and we will need to operate on him soon. But we can't do that without your permission."

"His heart has produced inconsistent heartbeats and his blood pressure is all over the place," Mrs Swanna said. "If left untreated, Pikachu will go into cardiac arrest." 

"Because Pikachu has already lost so much blood, he is at an increased risk of getting ventricular fibrillation. This is where the electric activity in the heart becomes so chaotic that the heart either stops pumping or quivers. Because Pikachu is an electric type, his has more electricity flowing in his blood. A cardiac arrest can be very fatal. We will use a defibrillator, but in order to complete the operation we need your permission." 

I filled in the relevant information on the consent form and then passed it over to Red. He read the document as if it were a long novel. He had to make his mind up. Would be allow us to perform an operation on his best friend or will he let him die to get away from the pain. There's a part in the consent form where it says that your pokémon may not be able to battle again or for a prolonged period of time. 

It must kill him inside. I don't know what Red's thinking and I don't know what he'll do. He hasn't even touched the pen I gave him. He sat there as if he was petrified. The longer we wait, the more time we lose. I can't force him to sign nor can I force him to consent. I know the last thing he wants is to be bombarded with paperwork, but all it takes is just one signature, and then I can order the surgeons to get the operation table ready.


	20. From One Champion To The Other

"Pikachu is my partner..." Red announced. "I am nothing without him."

Red had signed the papers. Mrs Swanna nodded her head and whispered to me, "I knew he would sign the sheet. He wants to think that Pikachu can survive." I rang the operation department and gave them the all clear. Whilst Mrs Swanna directed Red into the visitors room, Pikachu would have been transferred into theatre. There wasn't anything else I could do other than check to see if the operation is successful.

"The surgery is usually minor," I explained to Red. "We will administer medication that will put Pikachu to sleep and administer antibiotics to prevent infection."

Red gulped. "How long will it take?"

"The entire surgery will take a few hours."

"Do what you gotta do."

"Okay, I'll wheel him into the operation theatre," Mrs Swanna declared. About time she did something useful. It should have been easy, but as usual things get sidetracked. We were put to a halt by none other than Professor Oak. Spiritomb decided to stop in the middle of the hallway and watch what was going on.

"I've come to see my grandson," Professor Oak said. "Now who was it that I was going to see?" He pondered and scratched his head. "Did you know my latest grandson was born in this hospital?"

"Really?"

"At least I think he's my grandson... we were never married. Well he might as well have been my child, I was the only father figure Delia's son had and now his pikachu had a car crash. Oh I don't know what's the matter with me? Why do I keep thinking that Red and Ash are the same person?"

"I don't know," I said, patting his back. "Maybe you should see a doctor."

"I am perfectly fine," Professor Oak mumbled. He picked up his red pokedex from his pocket. It flipped open like a book. He slapped his head and grumbled again. "I can't remember how to work my pokegear." He was fiddling with the keypad as if he was racing against the clock to type out a letter. "I need to call my nephew Gary."

"Holy shit!" Spiritomb whispered to me. "He's got dementia."

"You shouldn't be swearing like that," I muttered back. Looking up to Professor Oak, I said, "That's your pokedex." Seeing Professor Oak struggling with his dementia was a strange experience, but not one that surprised me. Humans are living longer and everyone knows more about dementia. Professor Oak was still fully mobile and appeared to be orientated in time and space, but his memories appeared to be jumbled up. He can't distinguish individuals or genders anymore and that's a worrying sign.

There are drugs to slow down the process and ease the pain, but it's only going to get worse down the line. I don't see him being allowed to work anytime soon, but I can't imagine Professor Oak having a desire to retire. He gets the children of Pallet Town to run errands for him, and he's got plenty of people around him. Makes me wonder why they didn't spot the signs of him deteriorating sooner?

"No wonder," Professor Oak groaned. He used to have such a nice and sophisticated voice but now it only shows signs of his age. "Now I was going to see Red. Red's Pikachu got hit?"

"That's right!"

"Let me take you to the visitors room," Spiritomb said. "Red is in there."

"That's right," Professor Oak said. I normally hate it when Spiritomb uses his psychic powers to get his way, but it's actually done us a favour. "You better be looking after that Pikachu!"

One obstacle down. Mrs Swanna was wheeling Pikachu off as if she was in a race with me. I don't blame her; Pikachu's could go into a sudden cardiac arrest at anytime. If that happens, Pikachu could die in a few minutes.

"MATRON!"

Little Monica brightened up the corridor and swept from the end of the hallway all the way over to me in a matter of seconds. Grass-types are slow, but a sunny day plus chlorophyll combination double their speed. Many of the grass-type staff use this method to rush around, but it isn't always the best option. Sunny Day also powers up fire type moves, so if a patient in distress, and that very patient knew a fire type move, it can get ugly. 

"What is it, Monica?"

"The champion of Unova wants to speak to you," Monica said.

"It's okay Matron," Mrs Swanna said as she opened the door to the operating theatre. "I'll take care of Red's Pikachu. We've got enough competent staff."

She must have known that I really wanted to be a part of that operation. Oh well, I guess it can't be helped. I looked down on Monica, who was only half the size of me and asked her, "So where is she?"

"She's in the pokemon centre lobby. She keeps asking for her Garchomp back the results have only just come through. I think he'll need an emergency amputation as well as a total pancreatectomy. The tumours in his tail where so intense. By cutting the tail off the cancerous cells will spread at a much slower rate."

"Do you have the results of any scans and tests you took?"

"Sure."

Monica passed me a folder containing copies of the scans and the results of the tests. I can see what she means, and I can tell that this Garchomp has pancreatic cancer. I know it seemed rash to make a diagnosis without even meeting the patient, but the documents make it hard and clear that he's in the advanced stages and would not have long to live.

"I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR HOURS AND I HAVEN'T HEARD ANYTHING ABOUT GARCHOMP!"

I knew it was Iris screaming. I'm not going to make things any better for her. Her haxorus and her friend was trying to make her feel better, but it wasn't much help. No big hair could hide that girl's tears.

"Look Iris," the bloke next her said. "Someone's coming our way. Maybe they know something about Garchomp."

"Good afternoon Iris," I said.

"What have you lot done to Garchomp?" she asked. She spoke to me as if we had kidnapped her pokemon and taken it hostage"I want him back now!"

"The machine has detected that something wasn't right about Garchomp," I explained to her. "So we had to take him with us for a short while. I'm sorry that the wait was a lot longer than expected. Would you like to talk in a more private area?"

"I think that would be a good idea," the guy nodded his head as he wrapped his arm around Iris. I had a feeling by his smart appearance and green hair that he was a connoisseur.

"We've been in lots of pokemon centres," Iris said. "They've told me there was nothing to worry about it."

"What exactly did they say?" I asked.

"Garchomp's skin has had patches of yellow and has lost a lot of weight but the Nurse Joys said that it was just old age."

"Don't worry," the man cooed. "The nurse will help us out."

"I just want to see Garchomp," Iris cried.

"Take us to Garchomp's room," I requested; take Iris out of her misery before she disturbs anymore patients. Monica nodded as she lead us into the cancer ward. Garchomp laid crying out for it's trainer. I could see yellow patches that resembled rashes on his skin and his tail was thick yellow. Garchomp was unable to open his eyes. His arms were like twigs stuck on rusted slacks of metal.

"Garchomp!" Iris released herself from the man's grip and threw herself onto Garchomp's side. "Have you been calling for me? I'm sorry... I wish there was something I could do to take all your pain away."

"Iris... I'm afraid I have some very bad news. Garchomp has pancreatic cancer." Those words soon killed that short smile. Nothing sweet about it. Many would deny it. They don't want to here from a plump pink thing that their best friend has cancer... as somebody quoted a few years ago. "Looking from the results and the scans we've had, and from what you've told me. It's clear Garchomp's had cancer for a long time."

"Is there anything you can do?"

"We can make sure that Garchomp is as comfortable as possible," I replied. "Insert a syringe driver for drugs."

"What about surgery or therapy?"

"The cancer has spread too much," I said. "This cancer is very hard to diagnose and surgery is only successful in the earlier stages. Radiotherapy might help, but the side effects could cause a lot of distress to Garchomp."

"I'm Garchomp's daughter," Haxorus informed me. "Can you please make sure my Dad has something to eat? It might help him gain some weight."

"We'll put him on a feeding drip if that's okay with Iris," I told Haxorus. "We can only do operations with trainers consent."

"Lance's Dragonite is my half-brother and Cynthia's Garchomp is my half-sister," Haxorus told me. "So I'll expect that they'll be coming soon."

"So what are you going to do?" the man with Iris asked. "When will Garchomp be able to leave?"

"As of now, I don't think it would wise for Garchomp to leave," I said. "We will find the appropriate treatment for him, and you may also have to consider Garchomp being moved into a residential home."

"A what?" Iris yelled. "Cilan what is she talking about?"

"You mustn't worry," Cilan said. "It's only if the nurse and doctors can't do anything else for Garchomp." Cilan cradled her again and assured her that we would do whatever we can to help Garchomp have a comfortable and peaceful death. Iris and Cilan are travelling about, they'll never know where the next pokemon centre is until they find one. A PC box would not help them because Garchomp could still deteriorate and he would have no one to help him. He's going to need care and nursing 24/7. Garchomp would have to go to a home if there's not enough beds for new patients.

"Garchomp is not going to a home," Iris snapped. "Alder would still be alive if he hadn't have been dumped in one of them, and thanks to the nursing home's faulty equipment, Drayden can't walk anymore."

I don't blame her for hating on nursing homes so much after what happened to the ones in Unova. But there's one nursing home for pokemon near Candice's Gym that has a very good reputation. Not all care homes are prisons for the sick, you just have to do your research. The problem is that the health care sector have so many staffing issues, that when things go bad, they go really bad. Then the media blow it way out of proportion because they public and expose bad practice.

Poor Garchomp hasn't got long left to live. What Iris needs to do is to be strong.


	21. Augustine

They put Pikachu's implantable cardioverter defibrillator in the wrong place. It has to be under the collar bone and not beside it. So Pikachu had to have another operation just to put the ICD in the correct place. That was why it wasn't working. Mrs Swanna thought I was going mad, but I knew that something wasn't right. Now that it's been corrected, I feel a lot more better. I wanted to supervise Mrs Swanna with her operation with Garchomp. Even though the operation was successful, I still couldn't trust her.

When I said Spiritomb shouldn't be working, I think I might take that back now. Operations and palliative care are one of his areas of expertise. It certainly wasn't Mrs Swanna's areas of strength. Mrs Swanna acted odd behind machines, which I could understand due to her quadruple vulnerability against electricity. She would sustain a lot of damage from an open electric volt. I know what Mrs Swanna is like, if she knows she's made a mistake she will quickly go into a defensive mode. She will use her weakness against electricity as an excuse. 

I keep telling her to have some wacan berries, but she always says she hasn't got the time to find them. All she needs to do is ask Swampy, the pokemon head of the catering department, and he will give her a berry. I'm pretty sure he has wacan berries around considering he uses hundreds of berries for his cooking. I know they're rare, but once obtained they're so easy to grow. 

"I'm surprised Garchomp lived through the operation," Mrs Swanna confessed to me. She sounded as if a great weight had been lifted from her wings. We were wheeling Garchomp back into his room as Iris' Haxorus followed us all the way back to her dad's room.

"How did the operation go?" Haxorus asked.

"Better than expected," Mrs Swanna announced. I didn't like the flamboyant tone she used. "The cancer shouldn't spread anymore now."

The lack of proper diagnosis in the past helped Garchomp's cancer spread all over his body. I don't think there could be anywhere else the cancer could spread to. The most infected area was his wings. The body tissues in Garchomp's wings were dying from the lack of blood supply. We had no choice but to remove them. We also had to remove Garchomp's claws and spikes to stop him from hurting himself or damaging the syringe driver if he rolled over to the bed.

Four times a day, care assistants would go into Garchomp's room. They would clean him up, roll him over and apply cream to vulnerable areas. It would stop him from developing pressure sores and ensures that he's comfortable. We have to wait a few weeks until we can operate on Garchomp again. But I'm not sure if Garchomp is going to last that long. If we were in the Kanto Clinic I used to work at, they would have put the pokemon down. I had been involved in euthanasia and putting pokemon to sleep before. It's illegal in Sinnoh. One on hand it's good to see a patient finally free from their pain, but on the other hand, it's our duty to preserve and protect live, and not to end it.

Euthanasia hasn't been brought up yet. I hope it doesn't. Patient's right to live or die conflicts with our duty. Garchomp appears to be in a lot of pain, but I've yet to hear him complain. I wonder what he's thinking off right now? He rarely talks, but cries a lot. 

"My son is meant to be coming soon," Garchomp croaked.

"He'll be here in a minute," Haxorus told him. She held onto the bed bars, being careful of the wounds and the syringe driver. "He's gone to see a friend of his."

"Which friend?"

"Red's Pikachu."

"Pikachu is young. What's he doing here?"

"He got hit by Officer Jenny's bike."

"Reckless women drivers," Garchomp croaked.

"Hello Dad!" A dragonite glided through the door as he spoke. He came to the other side of Haxorus and held onto his hand.

"Alright, Son?" Garchomp puffed and became dependent on his oxygen mask.

Dragonite nodded. "I'm good. You've got lots of people looking after you."

Garchomp yawned. "I want you both to stay here. That will make me cozy."

I left Garchomp with his kids and made my way to the nursing office. Then as I took a step outside the cancer unit, I discovered a familiar face. A tall man with dark blue hair and a white coat. When I knew him, he wore a blue tunic and had curly and less stylish hair then he does now.

Augustine Sycamore used to work as a health care assistant here when I started working here. He was studying evolution at university and he was here for ages. He left to start his new job in Kalos. It's been eight years since we've last met and his face is like a breath of fresh air. One would expect it to be a happy situation, but the circumstances are not so sweet.

Augustine had just walked out of the morgue with a female friend. She was a tall, slim and modest looking lady with dark hair. She was carrying a little ralts in her arms. By the looks of it, they were sharing their grief together. That gardevoir who died from a complication of AIDS and being hacked belonged to Augustine's friend. David had kidnapped the Gardevoir and altered her to the point where people would thing it was David's gardevoir. 

"I'm very sorry about your Gardevoir," I told the lady. I didn't know her name, as it was the first time we ever met. But I was assuming the ralts in the lady's arm was a child of the deceased.

"When I heard the news I was shocked," Augustine admitted. "I will never understand why some people are horrible to pokemon. I have some sources that a gang in Kalos are behind some of the pokemon prostitution rings. The same ring that kidnapped Gardevoir and forced her into prostitution."

"Who do you think is doing this then?" I asked. I had a feeling that they were going to say that Team Rocket were behind the prostitution rings. It wouldn't surprise me if it was true. But Augustine said it was a gang from Kalos: Team Rocket's head quarters are in Kanto.

"Team Flare," Augustine replied. "They want to make a beautiful world."

"By stealing pokemon and using them as prostitutes?" I asked.

"I'm afraid so," Augustine murmured. "But I think they're doing much more than that. But Matron... I would like to introduce you to somebody. This is my friend Diantha."

"Nice to meet you," Diantha said.

"So what are Team Flare doing?" I asked. "Are they another Team Rocket Clone?"

"You could say that," Augustine replied. That meant yes. 

"I'm certain that a special someone will defeat them for good," Diantha said.

"So what do you want me to do?" I asked. If it's all happening in Kalos, then I can't do much in Sinnoh. It would look really bad if the matron in charge leaves the ward when there are two league champions desperately wanting their pokemon to be saved. He can't expect me to run away with him.

Augustine smiled. "I need you to keep up with the good work."

"Believe me I will!"

"I would be just as bad as them if I sought revenge," Diantha said. She sighed and looked down on Ralts. "Maybe some day I'll be good enough to be a pokemon champion." The thought made both Augustine and Diantha smile.

"How are you going to take down Team Flare?" I asked Augustine before looking up to Diantha. "How are you going to be the champion?" They've got great ambitions, but their occupations require a lot of physical and social activity. They're going to be really short on time.

"I've already chosen four children in Vaniville Town," Augustine said. "They haven't got their trainer licences yet, but they have just the right traits that I'm looking for. By the time they pick their first pokemon, 69 species will be officially registered as pokemon along with fairy type being acknowledged as an actual type. This is a revolution Matron. Pokemon will never be in better shape."

"But Augustine..." As honourable as his research is, it was time to be realistic. "I don't think it's very sensible to allow young children to take on a prostitution ring."

"Now Matron," Augustine seemed pretty determined with his plan. "Many villainous gangs have disbanded because of trainer's dedication to pokemon."

"That is not the point," I snapped. "It's still dangerous. If the children got killed or were seriously injured you could be sued."

"It's gonna be fine," Augustine said. "Because Team Flare will go down."

His confidence nerved me. "There is such a huge problem with this."

"I've got the best team anyone could ask for," Augustine announced. "I've got a good friend called Lysandre. He promised he would help me out."

"How do you know this Lysandre isn't the leader of Team Flare?" I asked.

"I just don't know," Augustine said. Getting louder than ever, he continued. "I just have a feeling that I can trust my instincts. What will be will be."

"Listen to me," I said. "If those children die, it will be the end of your career."

"This is just the beginning." Augustine sounded very enthusiastic for such a dangerous mission. He sounded very delusional and different to the modest care assistant that I used to know. "By doing this, I'll get to discover more about the wonders of mega evolution. I can't discuss it with you yet: it's a top secret. But once Kalos pokemon are officially registered on the national pokedex, I will explain it."

"Please take care of Ralts," I said. I really couldn't think of anything else to say that Augustine will listen to, even if it was directed at Diantha. "Gardevoir would like that."

"I promise I will," Diantha said.

"Anyway I heard you're a mother now?" Augustine said.

"Oh yes," I replied. "Lavender... I haven't had the time to see her. I know she's quite happy with her father."

"It amazes me how you and Spiritomb were able to breed even with artificial insemination," Augustine admitted. He patted my head and said, "You two must have a special bond."

"Let me assure you that my relationship with Spirirtomb is strictly professional."

"So I guess he was sent home to spend more time with Lavender?" Diantha asked.

I shook my head. "Spiritomb has been signed off for health and safety reasons. He hasn't been very well."

"What a shame." Augustine smiled. "Oh well, I'm sure he'll get better soon. He's a true survivor."

"HELLO AUGUSTINE! I HAVEN'T SEEN YOU IN YEARS!"

Spiritomb's voice chimed through one side of the park to the other. Spiritomb appeared out of nowhere with a big malicious smile on his face.

"I thought you were signed off?" I told Spiritomb.

"I signed back on again," Spiritomb replied. "They can't keep me away for too long."

"See I told you," Augustine said with a cheeky blink. "Well I gotta go and let you guys go back to work. See ya."


	22. Destiny Bond Syndrome

I wonder how Mr. Fierce is getting on? Even though we've had lots of patients, Mr. Fierce, Mew and Iris' Garchomp were the ones that stood out the most. I hope Mr. Fierce, Mew and her baby is safe wherever they are... assuming they're still alive.

Ever since Iris' Garchomp was admitted into hospital, I believed that he didn't have long left to live. He's been in and out of hospital for four months, but it's surprised me that he's lasted this long. He was the patient that was in my mind when I was asleep. Spiritomb sensed a desire to live. It's a common sign of Destiny Bond Syndrome. It's a syndrome not talked about in the medical profession: some even discard it.

Trainers and pokemon who spend a long time together will form a bond. These bonds are evident in any decent pokemon trainers. If the trainer died, then the pokemon would fall into a deep despair that no medicine will ever be able to cure. The pokemon would eventually die as it's whole body would just shut down. At the same time, DBS can also bring positives effects on the body. If a pokemon with the syndrome know that their trainer is alive and well, then it will make the pokemon want to live as well.

Iris must have been a great trainer, despite misjudging it's health. Garchomp was back in hospital again after falling out of bed. They tried to see if Garchomp was able to walk, but I knew it would be a bad idea. But what can I do if they decide to go home? With the new fairy type due to be announced, they've brought a new nurse into the ward. At first I thought she was grass/fairy, but it turned out she was just a pure fairy.

Zelda was an agency nurse. She was transported from a hospital in Lumiose City to work with us permanently. They wanted her to stay in charge of the night shifts. Zelda was a florges, a floral fairy species soon to be registered on the national pokedex. Zelda looks like a tall sunflower. The newly discovered fairy type is going to change the system, I just know it will.

I think she would be suitable working with dragons due to her immunity to dragons. The Dragon patients can get rough, she could counter their moves. Her special defense was something trainers could brag about, and her movepool made her an ideal nurse. She might be able to help comfort Garchomp.

Swampy stomped through the corridors carrying the tea trolley around the wards. He came to me and asked, "Would you like a cup of tea?"

"No thank you."

He smirked and looked to Zelda. "Would the beautiful flower like a drink?"

"Yes please," Zelda said. She chuckled. I can see why her trainer wanted to call her Zelda; she had that regal flare. "Green tea if you have any."

Swampy was starstruck, but it wouldn't last long. Soon Zelda had a green tea and drank it just as quickly as it was served. She'll fit in well.

"So I've heard you've had a couple of champions come in," Zelda said.

"We have a garchomp that belongs to Iris," I replied. "He isn't very well at all. He could be die at any moment. He's the eldest of his kind. He's the father to Lance's Dragonite and Iris' Haxorus. Wouldn't surprise me if he was related to Cynthia's Garchomp."

"How old is Garchomp?"

"He's 469."

"He must have been very well looked after to live that long..."

"I wouldn't want to live that long," Swampy said, and then he saddled away with his tea trolley. "I'd like to die in my prime. Wouldn't want folks fussing about me."

I found Swampy's words pretty ironic. Before he came working in the hospital, he was a wild pokemon that Domino picked up when she was on holiday. She thought it would someone like him would improve the food standards in the hospital. Well personally, I don't fancy any of the food on Swampy's menu because it's all too sweet for me. I prefer bitter food.

The place seems different without Domino. Even though she got what she deserves, a little of me reluctantly misses her. I think a lot of the staff are still shocked, puzzled and sad after Domino left, even now. They were deceived, but at least no one can know that I used to work for team rocket. I don't think any of the pokemon staff should know. They look up to me, and they would hold me responsible if they found out. No one would be able to do their jobs properly because there would be no trust or team work.

Zelda told Swampy. "I'm sure Arceus will call you when he's ready for you." It wasn't long till Swampy turned the corner and went out of their site. Zelda's got one friend already. She twirled over to me and said, "Do you believe in the Destiny Bond Syndrome? I sure do."

"I think there's a lot of psychological evidence that it exists," I replied.

"When my original trainer died; so did my mother."

"I'm sorry to hear that." One of the tutors in school advised us not to say sorry for something that wasn't your fault. Although sorry is the first thing that comes to your head when you hear someone's had heartbreak. Sure there are exceptions, but Zelda had to go through a lot.

"The funny thing was they died in the exact same way... only 48 hours apart. My original trainer drank herself to death and so did my mother. The alcohol they drank turned out to be a knock-off brand. It contained traces of mercury."

"Steel and poison does nasty damage to fairy types," I said. What a depressing way to greet someone on your first day. "And alcohol can be very poisonous. That's why fairy, grass and bug type pokemon shouldn't smoke nor drink."

"I don't see much of my sisters now," Zelda admitted, "Although I'm sure that they're fine."

"Are you sure they

"WELCOME TO KFC!" The gooey goomy sitting on the healing machine that we were passing by had cried out. Why KFC of all places? I'm really not sure, I guess that goomy's trainer is an immature loaf. To certain extents its true when they say pokemon are a mirror image of their trainers. I failed to see the humour.

"I think this is better than KFC," Zelda said.

"Where's my bucket?" Goomy cried out before returning to it's ball.

Zelda giggled. "He's sure nourished."

"He'll enjoy the taste," I said. "But what he won't enjoy is the diarrhea that comes with it."

"Oh, I see." Zelda shook her head. "Our next patient is a skuntank nicknamed Rupert. He was admitted at 4AM this morning by his trainer. MRI scan confirmed he had a stroke in the early hours of the morning. He just regained consciousness ten minutes ago."

Trainers don't expect it; but strokes can happen to pokemon too. I knew we were getting close to his room when we were greeted by a foul odor. By the time we opened the door, half the ward could smell Rupert. He was circling around the room and flooding the bed with liquids oozing from the tip of his tail. His head was tilted and he was using the side of the bed bars for protection.

"Where am I?" Rupert asked. "I don't know any of you."

The stench became stronger.

"I'm Matron Blissey and I'm the pokemon in charge of this hospital. I've come to check up on you."

"Where's Hikaru? How did this happen?"

"It's okay," Zelda said, trying to hold her breath. "You had a stroke a stroke last night and Hikaru will be seeing you shortly. Here, make a wish. It will make you feel better."

I can see that Rupert is going to need 24 hour care for four weeks. If he's kept clean and well medicated, he could make a full recovery within a fortnight. His blindness however, will take a long time to cure, if he is able to regain his sight. We'll have to call some pokemon in freshen up Rupert now. Zelda and I could do it, but we both have spot checks to carry out.


	23. Strokes

The spot check was finally over. I was hoping Zelda and I would have finished by ten. The clock just stroke eleven, and I wasn't impressed with that I saw; dusty corners, wrinkled beds, slime on the windows and the clinical waste area was an absolute disgrace. Spiritomb and Zelda had to work together to destroy the waste whilst I was left doing the spot checks on my own. I can usually tolerate the workload, but this morning's work seems more hefty than usual. The sooner we get a new Nurse Joy, the better. 

"We simply don't have the time to do anything," I heard Spiritomb say as he swirled around the room in a grump.

It was Zelda's first time doing the staff roster. When I saw it, I knew why Spiritomb was unhappy. He's been put in charge of the hacked unit. That was no problem, he liked that unit and has more knowledge about it then I do, but Solrock and Lunatone were on duty as well in that ward. He hates the rock types, I don't know why he couldn't just hold his tongue.

"I'm not working with them," Spiritomb hissed. He looked at me, hoping I would reallocate them to somewhere else.

I said, "I'm afraid you must."

"Matron, you can't let her control us. I thought this was our hospital."

"Look Spiritomb," Zelda hissed. "We are short-staffed, the chanseys and audinos have to cover other wards."

"Zelda's right." I nodded. "I have to fill in for Nurse Joy until we get a replacement."

"You lot are too soft with him," Zelda said to me. She didn't care weather Spiritomb heard it or not. He stormed off in a strop. Nothing like him, he's usually very professional. "He's only just got out of a nursing home."

Dr. Proctor came in out of nowhere without even the decency to knock. He was the area manager of the pokemon centres in Sinnoh. He's such a sleaze though: he's after any female human he can get. He had the potential to be an amazing doctor... if only he could get his head out of the gutter.

"I believe a congratulations in order," Dr. Proctor announced. He was holding a document in his hand.

"What?" I gasped. I don't know what this hospital has done to receive a congratulations.

Dr. Proctor had a huge smile on his face. "Despite recent events, we have been rated exceptional by the inspectors."

"But we haven't had one recently," I said.

"If you don't believe me have a look of the report. By the way Matron, I will be holding interviews for Nurse Joys next Monday. I was wondering if you could help me with the interview progress?"

"I guess so," I said. "How long will it be and how many are you interviewing?"

"So far two have confirmed that they're coming, but it could be as many as ten coming."

"I hope you're keeping it clean."

"We've got a good mixture, and I'm sure Zelda and Spiritomb will make a great team." I wanted to shake my head, but he was in charge. He seems to know exactly what he's doing/ Leaving Zelda and Spiritomb together without me seemed to be a recipe for disaster. Oh dear... whatever will happen next? Zelda needs more training and more time to get used to the hospital and its ways. "Anyway I've booked transport for all three of you to go to Kalos."

"Why do we have to go to Kalos for?" I asked.

"It's a special training day held by Professor Sycomore in his own laboratory in Lumoise City," Dr. Proctor announced. "All three of you will be going through the pokemon transporter and pokemon bank server."

"The what?" Spiritomb asked. "Say that again?"

"When you three have finished your shift tonight, return to your balls so I can send you over. Professor Sycamore will pick up outside his lab. There will be a lot of moving about, but it will be worth it. You will learn lots of knowledge."

Spiritomb shrugged. "I don't get it."

"You'll get used to it," Zelda told him.

"Can I have a look at the inspection report please?" I requested. I hope Zelda and Spiritomb don't try and outwit each other. I think Spiritomb has found a rival. I'm getting really concerned now. His mental health is so fragile and I often wonder if it was a good idea to come back to work, but it was his choice to come back to work, he'll have to accept the consequences. For the sake of my patients I hope nothing serious comes out of it.

"Of course." Dr. Proctor gave it to me with no questions asked.

We all heard a chansey cry out my name. I put the report down and skidded outside the office and saw Lucky running towards me.

"Matron!" Lucky cried out. "Iris' Garchomp just had a stroke."

"I'll have to look at the report later," I told Dr. Proctor.

Spiritomb and Zelda quickly followed me as soon as they could. When we rushed through the corridor to get into Garchomp's room, we saw Monica and Plum hoisting Garchomp back on the bed. His face was completely lopsided and his breathing was muffled. Iris was being dragged off the floor by Cilan.

"PLEASE HELP HIM!" Iris begged us. She was falling apart with only Cilan holding her back up. "I don't want him to die," she whimpered.

"Garchomp?" He was still breathing, but didn't respond to my voice at all. His skin was getting cold and black from his fresh bruises.

"He's completely unresponsive," Plum said.

Garchomp slumped over to the right side of the bed. Iris escaped from Cilan's grip and held onto Garchomp's hand. Cilan was trying his hardest to comfort Iris. When the machines went quiet I knew that it was time to announce the news they were dreading to hear. He was gone. 

"Time of death 11:38."

"NO!" Iris squealed. She wouldn't let Garchomp go. "Garchomp..."

"Rest in peace," Cilan said. He stood behind Iris. We did everything we could for him, but we all knew that this day was coming. It dosen't make it any easier to take in.


	24. Spiritomb's Breakdown

After the shift, Spiritomb, Zelda and I returned to our balls and we assumed that Dr. Proctor would send us all to Kalos. It was a rocky ride, but we got to Kalos quicker than I imagined. We landed safely nevertheless and we all seemed to be accounted for. Apart from one person. Then along came Mrs. Swanna in Spiritomb's place.

"Mrs. Swanna?" I was convinced that Dr. Proctor did not invite the snoopy bird round.

"We were expecting Spiritomb to be with us."

"You see," Mrs. Swanna lowered her beak with regret. "Spiritomb didn't make it through the security check. I don't know the details, all I know is that they found Spiritomb to be problematic."

"Transfering through pokemon bank can be a draggy progress," Zelda explained. "However, there are barriers. If pokemon have illegal cells, they can't come to Kalos. We have a zero tolerance on illegal drugs and inappropriate names. Spiritomb is hacked. He will never be allowed here."

"Spiritomb is hacked?" Mrs. Swanna opened her beak and was petrified.

That was why he knew so much about the hacked syndrome, it was because he had it himself. It's possible that he could have also inherited it from his parents. I hate to admit it, but it all makes sense. That was why he knew so much about the disease. It was the reason why he hadn't been so well this year and the reason why he had been neglecting Minerva. I don't think he really meant to forget her. He was just a working class pokemon who worked to support his trainer and family.

A girl casually skated past us until she entered the laboratory. She looked like a girl who was on her way to become a trainer. That wasn't the scary part, it was the fact that the girl looked so much like my original trainer. Long blonde hair and a pink hat just how she use to wear it. She even had my trainer's eyes. I heard Augustine say that her name was Serena, but that's about it.

"But when Spiritomb first joined us, they didn't find anything wrong with him at all," I added. I refuse to believe that Spiritomb is the evil malicious monster that Zelda is painting him as.

"Technology in Kalos is superior," Zelda said in a firm voice. "Spiritomb is dangerous. He probably has the wonder guard ability."

It shouldn't bother me, but it does. We've been brought into Augustine's office to do some special training, and yet we have no idea what it's all about. Doctor Proctor made it sound as if it was a secret mission. Then I heard Mrs. Swanna panting. I faced her direction and there before us was Spiritomb.

"Spiritomb?" I tried to step closer but was dragged back by Florges.

"Leave!" Zelda demanded. "You're breaking the law being here. Hacked pokemon aren't allowed to be here."

Spiritomb cackled, but it sounded different to the one I knew. "So ill pokemon are banned, but criminals aren't?" All of a sudden I felt very uncomfortable. Especially when he glared at me with red eyes that pierced into my soul. "GO ON MATRON!" he hissed. "Tell them your secret? You don't want them to know that you used to work for Team Rocket?"

Spiritomb's body began to form a zigzag pattern which eventually curved into a question mark. I had never seen anything like it. How long had be been suffering for? Has Domino been drugging him up all these years? I didn't want my staff to know they work for Team Rocket because they would panic. I knew a nasty confrontation would happen if anyone knew.

"How did you contract the hacked syndrome?" I asked Spiritomb. He was glitching really badly.

"Why does it matter to you?" Spiritomb croaked. "You're a traitor. I'll never let you work again." Threats don't normally bother me, but coming from somebody who I had a lot of respect for, it hurt. What did I do wrong to make Spiritomb so angry. It can't be because he dosen't like rock pokemon, it's got to be something much deeper.

"Matron?" Zelda asked. "Do you happen to remember treating a flabébé who held onto a sunflower?"

I've treated so many patients so it's hard to remember every case exactly. The only time I can recall treating a flabébé matching Zelda's description was at the Kanto clinic. But since the secret is out, it dosen't make a difference. "Team Rocket wanted to destroy a flabébé because they didn't know what it was and decided it was worthless. I fought for that pokemon's survival and eventually they left it in my care. Once it was fully healed, I released it into the wild so it could find it's trainer."

"Then... you're the one who saved me. You're the reason I wanted to be a nurse. I never thought I would actually find you. Thank you, Matron."

"Guys," Mrs. Swanna shrieked. "Spiritomb's evolving!"

"But Spiritomb can't evolve!" Zelda shouted.

Spiritomb turned white and changed into the shape of an upside down tear drop with long grizzly hands. His body became pitch black and surrounded with purple gas. His eyes and mouth were blank. I haven't seen a Missingno in years, and it was the first time I have seen a pokemon evolve into a missingo. Could I even call him Spiritomb anymore?

"You made me like this," my old partner hissed. "You let that fake Nurse Joy manipulate Minerva and drug me up during the process."

It only took me until now how much damage Domino had done to the hospital and it's staff. I thought the death of the unborn phione was end of it, but I was wrong. There were probably things that I could have done to avoid all of this, but I can't think why.

"Don't listen to him," Zelda cried out as she surrounded me with a barrier. "He's trying to play mind games with you. Don't fall for them."

"Silence you little flower. How about some foul play! I will use your own power against you." Spiritomb charged at full speed at Zelda and tossed her about the street until she landed on top of a taxi car. Zelda got up with ease and made her way in front of me. Spiritomb opened his mouth and held his hands on either side of his face, shrieking as he knew he had failed to defeat Zelda.

"Your dark stab moves won't hurt me," Zelda announced as stars waved across her. She wished for her health back, and all her scratches has disappeared.

"In that case I shall have to show you my true form!"

The missingno vanished. I couldn't accept it as anything other than Spiritomb. The talented nurse who was on the verge of a disastrous breakdown. The ground began to rumble and emerging from the shadows of the gates was Spiritomb, he was back, and bigger than ever. But instead of his purple scheme he was a shiny aqua blue. He was worlds away from the cheeky nurse I used to know. He looked like a true menace, like the ones that haunt your dreams at night.

" **BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"**

Behind that wicked laugh was the presence of a frail and tortured soul that needed to be saved. 


	25. Farewell

"I will kill you!" Spiritomb hissed. I wasn't sure who he was directing it to, but he was trying to wreck everything in his path. Everyone was advised to evacuate the town, but I knew I just had to stay. If I can't return Spiritomb back to his senses then no one can. Spiritomb tried to throw some shadow balls at me, but I didn't understand why. All I could do was shrug them off because I am immune to ghost-type moves. So whenever Spiritomb would use a ghost-type move, I would be there to take it so there was no damage done.

"SERENA! WHERE ARE YOU?" I heard a woman's cry on top of the sound of stomping. There was a woman riding a rhyhorn. The rhyhorn must have been a racer holding a choice scarf because there is no way a pokemon with low base speed could charge that fast. When the woman rode past me, I turned my attention away from Spiritomb and over to the woman.

I gasped. A mixture of nostalgia and painful memories hit me. Was it who I thought it was. Was the girl I saw skating, her daughter? There was only one way to find out. "Grace?" I called out. Grace was the name of my trainer. We were forced apart after her drug scandal and I was forced to work with Team Rocket.

"Matron?" The woman responded. It was her. For the first time in so many years. "AGH!"

Spiritomb's shadow crept below Grace's Rhyhorn and shook Grace off. Her forehead banged against the pavement and she landed in a twisted position. I rolled over to help her. Rhyhorn was fine, as had really good physical defence and shadow sneak had a low base power which didn't make use of Spiritomb's new found power.

"Grace!" I said. "Are you all right?"

"I think so," Grace murmmered.

"Out of my way you filthy scumbag!" Spiritomb cackled as he threw blue flames of will-o-wisp around intending to burn anything he can find. One of the flames hit Grace and she screamed. Blood oozed from her face as I used aromatherapy to return her back her normal state. I left her where she was as Rhyhorn came back to defend her.

"Stop it Spiritomb!" I yelled. "You're hurting my trainer and everyone else."

Spiritomb floated around the pokemon centre as he stopped to take one look at me and laughed. "I thought you hated your trainer and wanted nothing to do with her. Now I know why, she humps filthy rocks."

"All types balance each other out," I explained. "Some are more common than others, but we are all equal. You can't do this to yourself and this town. You worked so hard to get to where you are. Remember all all those patients we saved."

"It means nothing!" Spiritomb roared. "I've been trying to destroy the hacked syndrome for years only to find that I have them inside me." His body slopped to one side and ran down to the floor like water.

Mrs. Swanna was paralyzed from the beak down. Despite her best efforts she couldn't land an attack on Spiritomb. Zelda had been using a calm mind to boost both of her special stats. Using her physchic powers she levitated Mrs. Swanna to the pokemon centre where she could be quickly healed from her paralysis. Good idea, I thought.

"You're not gonna like what I'm going to do," Zelda confessed. "But I have to do it. Spiritomb is dangerous. He is the worst hack I have ever come across."

"How dare you," Spiritomb yelled. Spiritomb huffed and with all of his might blew to Zelda one of the biggest shadow balls anyone could have seen. It didn't even leave a scratch on Zelda. I knew what was coming and when Florges waved her arms and created a giant pink ball that resembled a moon I was right. Before I knew it, Spiritomb smacked in the face with a moon blast.

It was the most horrific scream I had ever heard. It was a one hit knockout and he was back to being his regular self again. Poor Spiritomb was battered and bruised and his purple skin peeled. I could see the bad eggs exploding from him. He gasped for breath and heaved. Mrs. Swanna, Zelda and I gathered around him as fast as we could.

"Spiritomb..." I held onto his hand.

"There's nothing you can do," Spiritomb croaked. Black blood dribbling on his mouth. "This is where I have to say goodbye."

"You mean..." Mrs. Swanna lowered her head and buried it under her wing. "You're going to die."

"I'm sorry." Spiritomb coughed. "Domino had made a concoction of illlegal drugs. When consumed it would turn any pokemon into a killing machine. She made gallons of it. I couldn't stand there and let her make any more so I burned the recipe and when she was arrested, I drank every last drop of her concoction."

"Is that how you became hacked?" I asked.

"No," Spiritomb grumbled. "I was born with it. I had thirty-one individual values in every stat. I couldn't save that phione, but I was determined to save you all." His eyes steered towards me. "Especially you... Matron. You cared for me as if you were my sister or maybe something more. Please keep an eye out on my daughters for me. Let them know that I love them all. "

As I watched Spiritomb crumble to nothing, I had learned that even ghost-types had to die at some point. I had never seen a ghost-type patient die so it was a bone chilling experience to me. My eyes felt heavy and I just couldn't move even if I wanted to. Why did it all have to come to this? I had so many questions that I knew I would never find an answer to.

The training had to be cancelled and was to be rescheduled for following month. Zelda and Mrs. Swanna returned to Sinnoh. I decided that I would stay and catch up with Grace for just one night. I rang Minerva up to tell her the news. She was devastated of course, but I had a feeling that she would be a lot closer to Little Wit and Lavender from now on.

It was horrible to lose Spiritomb the way we did, but we've got to carry on. Come tomorrow I will be back to work as usual doing what I do best: saving lives.


End file.
